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UutisetAvaa alavalikko
Finland's school system: The new Nokia?
(Vraag vooraf: waarom verzweeg Pasi Sahlberg de lage leerprestaties van 15-jarige Finse leerlingen volgens onderzoek van de universiteit van Helsinki. Onderwijskrant publiceerde er al een paar jaar geleden over.)
For more than a decade Finland has been lauded as an educational leader because of the countrys stellar performance in the... OECDs PISA assessments. As new results are published on Tuesday, one education expert wants to help the Finnish school system avoid the fate of another fallen national championNokia.
Finlands performance in the PISA scores has been a source of pride for many Finns and has put the spotlight on the countrys unique approach to education. The international media has lauded Finlands high standard of teaching, lack of standardised tests and high-achieving students. (NvdR: meestal weinig toppers, zwakkere prestaties steeds voor TIMSS-wiskunde. De Finse beleidsmakers en Pasi Sahlberg verzwegen blijkbaar de zwakke leerprestaties van hun 15-jarigen volgens studies van de universiteit van Helsinki.)
Teacher, teacher trainer, Director of Finland's Centre for International Mobility (CIMO) and policy advisor Pasi Sahlberg has toured the world explaining the intricacies of Finlands system. His best-selling book Finnish Lessons has been reprinted several times, and his advice is sought by governments worldwide. (Noot Onderwijskrant: onze kranten, Klasse, hervormers s.o., beleidsmakers, Georges Monard, Ides Nicaise, Dirk Jacobs, Mieke Van Houitte ... namen die mooie praatjes van Sahlberg klakkeloos over - en dit niettegenstaande de vele waarschuwingen van Onderwijskrant. We moesten b.v. per se de nivellerende gemeenschappelijke (comprehensieve) lagere cyclus overnemen.)
Much of that is down to Finlands high ranking in PISA tests. The OECDs methodology has been criticised, and there has been some sniping that Finland enjoys certain advantages because of its homogeneity and unique language. Sahlberg rejects that idea.
Homogeneity 'not a factor' (Okrant: de hoge SES en het beperkte aantal anderstalige & allochtone leerlingen speelde wel een belangrijke rol. Sahlberg ontkent het licht van de zon.)
"I dont believe that the PISA results in Finland have anything to do with the language or the fact that Finland is more homogenous than others," observes Sahlberg. "Of course Finland has had fewer non-Finnish speakers or children who were born outside of Finland, but that cannot explain the progress in previous PISA studies or the declining results in maths."
Ahead of new results to be published on Tuesday, Helsingin Sanomat reported that Finland had dropped out of the top ten in Maths. Although he refuses to comment on unpublished results, Sahlberg is concerned Finland may have taken its eye off the ball. (Waarom verwijst Sahlberg niet naar de studies van de universiteit van Helsinki die veel belangrijker en betrouwbaarder zijn dan PISA)
"We havent seen a systematic leadership or school improvement over the last twelve years, Finland has been much more involved in explaining to others why we are doing well in the PISA than on focusing on what we should do next," says Sahlberg. "Its a little bit like the story of Nokia from that point of view." (Sahlberg vertelde overal fabeltjes over onderwijsparadijs Finland!)
The Nokia comparison is telling. Finlands telecommunications giant dominated global mobile sales for a decade, but failed to adjust to the smartphone era and was recently forced to sell its handset business to Microsoft.
Avoiding Nokia's fate
Such a fall from grace is a chastening prospect for Finnish educators. Sahlberg emphasises the need to listen to what former Nokia CEO and chair Jorma Ollila describes as weak signals around the worldspotting what is the next big thing rather than dwelling on past success.
According to Sahlberg, Finnish policy-makers have had access to indications of weakening performance in maths for at least five years. (NvdR: Aangezien we daarover destijds in Onderwijskrant publiceerden, mogen we toch veronderstellen dat ook Sahlberg op de hoogte was. Over de studies van de universiteit van Helsinki zweeg hij over in alle talen.)
He suspects that the problem may lie at the bottom end of the educational spectrum. Increasing income differentials and a lack of financial resources in some municipalities are two possible causes, but the immediate effect is clear: there is a widening gap between the best and worst performing schools and students. (Vooral ook de toppers presteren onder hun niveau, cf; TIMSS 2011).
"The good performance in Finland has always been because we have very few low-achieving schools, says Sahlberg. "And what is likely to happen in the country is that we will have more of those, both students and schools. And that probably explains part of the lower performance."
Sahlberg does reject one possible explanation: immigration. He says that Finnish parents should not fear diverse schools, and that other solutions can be found to ensure that the Finnish schooling system retains its positive image as a poster child of egalitarian education.
That hope is shared by Finnish children, parentsand politicians.
Oorzaken van zwakke prestaties volgens veel waarnemers: nivellerende gemeenschappelijke lagere cyclus, te weinig eisen aan de leerlingen, te weinig lessen, te weinig niveaubewaking door de overheid... In Zweden maakt men een analoge analyse.
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