Daling
onderwijsniveau Finland: The traditional and
teacher-centred educational culture
is being replaced by
more pupil-led ways of working. Lessen voor Vlaanderen!
Real Finnish
Lessons The true story of an education
superpower - 2015 (haaks op voorstelling van Pasi Sahlberg in Finnish
Lessons. GABRIEL HELLER SAHLGREN (research director at the Centre for the Study
of Market Reform of Education (CMRE) Monografie
van 70 paginas (ook op Internet)
Finlands rise and
its subsequent decline . Verklaring voor vrij hoog niveau van Fins onderwijs volgens PISA e.d. en
gevoelige daling de voorbije jaren: De evolutie van een traditional and teacher-centred educational system naar meer pupil-led ways of working verklaart
grotendeels de niveaudaling in Finland.
*De studie van Sahlgren bevestigt de analyses in
Onderwijskrant van de voorbije jaren en weerlegt de simplistische voorstelling
van de Finse onderwijsgoeroe Pasi Sahlberg in Finish Lessons (less is more
e.d.) *Ook de Vlaamse leerlingen scoorden voor PISA-2012 minder dan jaren
geleden, maar ze scoorden wel nog significant beter dan de Finse. De achteruitgang van de Vlaamse leerlingen is
o.i. niet enkel te wijten aan het stijgende aantal allochtone leerlingen, maar
ook aan het feit dat de aandacht voor gestructureerde instructie afnam. In de
leerplannen eerste graad secundair van 1998 is b.v. ook de invloed van de nefaste constructivistische
aanpak doorgedrongen. We vrezen dat via de nieuwe eindtermen en leerplannen ook
in Vlaanderen de more pupil-led ways of working, de constructivistische
aanpak e.d. verder kunnen doordringen. Waakzaamheid is geboden.
Citaat en conclusie:
Finnish teachers were,
for many decades, traditional in their approach, reinforcing
a hierarchical educational
culture. (Dit was de belangrijkste oorzaak van het hoog niveau
destijds van het Fins onderwijs). The
move towards less structured methods and authoritative school practices is
likely to have had a causal effect, in and of itself, on the recent Finnish
decline. In particular, the traditional and teacher-centred educational
culture is being replaced
by more pupil-led ways of
working. The strongest policy lesson
is the danger of throwing
out authority in
schools, and especially getting rid of knowledge-based, teacher-dominated instruction.
Finlands rise and its subsequent decline
Finland was also a comparatively late developer in terms
of industrialisation, economic growth,
rollout of mass education, and
development of a welfare state. As a result, Finnish culture for
long remained more traditional than
in other Nordic countries,
reflecting its similarities with high-performing East Asian nations. This is likely to have
underpinned the countrys improvements in international tests via a
wealth effect, which first increases
and later decreases educational performance as a function of income.
The special socio-economic
and cultural trajectory
meant that a hierarchical and traditional schooling climate remained
largely in
place until relatively
recently. Perhaps most conspicuous, pupil-led teaching methods were for long absent
from Finnish classrooms, despite admonishments from the educational
establishment Incidentally, an increasing body of research suggests
that traditional methods are superior for raising pupil achievement. The
recent fall in performance may in part be explained by the fact that many of the above preconditions for
success are now being eroded.
In
particular, the traditional and teacher-centred educational
culture is being
replaced by more pupil-led ways of working.
While a degree of
caution in seeking lessons from Finlands
success is
always necessary, the in-depth
analysis in this monograph shows that existing popular
explanations for the countrys
achievements, such as its lack of market reforms and accountability, do not withstand scrutiny.
Instead, it suggests that the countrys
rise was to a large extent shaped by socio- economic and historical factors, as
well as the retention of a traditional
educational culture.
Besluiten: LESSONS FROM
FINLAND?
Ever since the first PISA results gave star status to the
Finnish education system, policymakers and pundits have scrambled to understand
what policy lessons should be drawn. Perhaps more than anything else, Finland has been seen as a role model for opponents of
market- and accountability-based
schoolreform, while also being frequently
admired for its high teacher
status and reputable teacher training system.
But as the countrys performance
has begun to
slip, these accounts seem decreasingly persuasive. Indeed, as this
monograph has shown,
the most popular policy-related explanations of Finlands rise
to prominence do not stand up to scrutiny.
The evidence does not support them, and, above all, it should be clear that the
improvements began before most of the highlighted policies were even
introduced.
If societal changes and historical processes are indeed
crucial for Finlands rise and its subsequent decline, we should be hesitant before
attempting to draw out specific policy lessons. For example, emphasising
high-quality teachers with high social status is of little value for
policymakers in other countries unless they are told how this is supposed to be
achieved with the tools at their disposal. And while the status and quality of
teachers are both remarkably high in Finland, this appears to have been caused
by a unique mix of socio-historical processes rather than education policy. In
fact, this applies to
most explanations for
changes in Finnish
pupil achievement explored in this monograph. So what,
if anything, can
other countries
learn from studying Finlands performance
trajectory? Overall, the strongest
policy lesson is the
danger of throwing
out authority in
schools, and especially getting
rid of knowledge-based, teacher-dominated instruction. In
England, as documented
in recent publications, pupil-led methods and a less
authoritative schooling culture have been on the rise for decades, reflecting
everything from teacher education to Ofsted orthodoxy. In fact, ironically, it was partly this development that
once inspired the
progressive turn in Finnish
education policy in
the 1990s, which
is currently being realised in
school and classroom practices.
However, as this monograph has highlighted,
the story from Finland backs up
the increasing
amount of
evidence, which suggests that
pupil-led methods, and less structured schooling environments in general, are
harmful for cognitive achievement. Finnish teachers were,
for many decades, traditional in their approach, reinforcing a hierarchical
educational culture.
The move towards less structured methods and authoritative school
practices is likely to have had a causal effect, in and of itself, on the
recent Finnish decline.
It has been
suggested elsewhere that post-industrialisation renders teacher-dominated pedagogy
and other authoritative aspects of schooling
irrelevant, because teaching methods and school organisation in general must follow
the trajectory of society. Todays society is less about authority and
obedience and more about freedom and independence. Therefore, the argument
goes, we must adopt the latter in schools. Yet as Hannah Arendt pointed out 60
years ago, this is a fallacy.Schools are not supposed to be microcosms of the
outside world. They are meant to be institutions that prepare pupils for that
world. Pupils are not grown-up citizens and they should not be treated as such.
So while society is moving in a direction towards less authority and more
independence, this does not mean that education must follow suit.
Indeed, it could be argued that it becomes even more
important that schools retain some authoritative structures to ensure that
pupils accept the institution of
schooling. If this
is the case, the shift
in methods may actually have contributed to declining acceptance of authority
in schools rather than vice versa.
To see why,
consider the classic
tension between individuals
yearning for freedom
and civilisations need
for compliance, identified by
Sigmund Freud in Civilisation and
its Discontents. This tension,
according to Freud, is
dealt with by
individuals internalisation of
societys rules and authorities, which
in turn produces guilt and lingering feelings of
discontent as a self- regulatory mechanism to ensure that order is upheld. Schools
are fundamentally socialising institutions and teachers have historically acted
as authorities laying
down the rules
for pupil behaviour. But if
teachers take a back seat, there is no authority to internalise which should
be reflected in more unruly behaviour and less acceptance of teachers
traditional role. After all, if adults do not behave as authorities, why would
children view them as such?
On the positive side, less authority and more freedom should
also predict less discontent. Perhaps it is therefore not surprising that decreasingly
authoritative methods and declining achievement in Finland have been
accompanied by an improving school climate. This idea also receives some support
from recent research, which finds that
progressive teaching is good for
producing social capital, for
example by improving pupils beliefs in cooperation with teachers. Another study shows that such
methods may also be good for
improving pupils reasoning
skills. While more research is
needed in these
areas before
drawing any strong conclusions, this points to a potential
trade-off between different teaching methods that is important to acknowledge.
But the point that progressive teaching methods appear
harmful for cognitive achievement
remains. Rather than getting
swept away by the (beneficial) onward march of freedom in society, it is
probably better that schools keep calm and avoid forgetting what works most
effectively in this respect.
Overall, however, the
difficulties in identifying causal factors behind Finlands changing educational
performance in the 20th and the 21st centuries cannot be overestimated. This
includes the conclusions in this monograph. The paucity of direct evidence must be accepted;
and we should not seek certainty. However, the evidence presented here is
enough to falsify many common explanations and lessons while at the same time
providing a new starting point from where we should continue to look.
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