We should take Finnish lessons to improve our education system
YOUR report on the new International Council of Education Advisers (“Panel of top education experts to advise on improving schools”, The Herald, July 15) leaves me with mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I’m highly impressed by John Swinney’s achievement in persuading such an outstanding group of international experts to advise him in his efforts to close the attainment gap and improve the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.
On the other, I’m left wondering why he has already set out “the actions we will take to substantially close the attainment gap and deliver a world class education system in Scotland” before he has gained the advice of such a highly authoritative group of experts.
It seems a bit like making detailed plans for the design and construction of a new piece of machinery before engaging the services of top design and construction experts. The words “horse” and “cart” come to mind.
This is particularly so, since I suspect that several members of the council will have significant reservations about aspects of the model described in the Scottish Government’s 2016 Delivery Plan, with its classic top-down management emphasis on “educational interventions” and the need to “push harder”.
By contrast, in his 2010 review of teacher education in Scotland, Professor Graham Donaldson wrote of the need for “a model of sustained change which sees schools and teachers as co-creators of the curriculum … The most successful education systems … invest in developing their teachers … to be key actors in shaping and leading educational change”.
This of course, is a key feature of Finland’s rise over the past 20 years from educational mediocrity to world leader. As Dr PasiSahlberg points out regularly in his lectures, Finland has achieved its pre-eminent educational position, not by setting out to be “the best”, or even “world class”, but by simply seeking to provide the best quality of education for all its young people. As William Doyle has recently written in the Hechinger Report: “Finland’s historic achievements in delivering educational excellence and equity to its children are the result of a national love of childhood, a profound respect for teachers as trusted professionals, and a deep understanding of how children learn best.”
I believe that there are profound lessons to be learnt from Finland’s approach and that these cast serious doubt on several aspects of the model described in the minister’s Delivery Plan. Colin Weatherley, The Paddock, Gullane, East Lothian.