Thoughts about special education and approaches to teaching..

What are the main things to be learnt from the Finnish special education system?

The system is clear, there is no competition, no public test results, integrated special education at all schools (part time and full time), it is common and feels natural for pupils to leave the classroom – or receive extra help in the main stream classroom from a special education teacher, and they do so in their "normal schedule" - and not as additional lessons..

 

As teachers we have to follow-up with the changes made in the educational system so that we continuously progress and always try to meet the necessary requirements for being competent teachers in the environment we teach in, even though we might feel it is very stressful or we disagree with changes being made.

My experiences from different courses and classroom observations have led me back to my reflections from my last practice placement period in Denmark, when I wondered which teaching style can apply to most learners and show the best results in learning in the long run. From what I’ve seen and heard in Finland, it does not seem like the teacher’s role is to entertain the pupils, but that learning is emphasized in teaching and that “responsibility for own learning” is solidly integrated in all classrooms. All pupils are introduced to and develop (most of them seem to develop it) “responsibility for own learning” at a very early age - already as early as in kindergarten and preschool. According to the PISA results, Finnish pupils perform homogeniously, so maybe this approach to teaching is working.. But could it work in other countries?

Is there too much stress on differentiation, learning styles, entertainment, enjoy and fun in Danish schools? Do pupils actually learn more when they are “having a good time”? And of course, I know it depends on what we consider as “learning” at which learning objectives we have, but still…

This first sentence I heard from one of my Finnish teachers really says it all..

“I hope you will learn something from this course and find it interesting. Of course, it is nice if you enjoy it as well, but that is not why you are here….”