Back in 2001, students from countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development participated in a brand new test, called the PISA, which was designed to determine skills in the fields of math, reading and science, and provide an ranking. To everyone's surprise, Finland came out on top, with Finnish students netting top scores in all three categories. How did Finland, with a small population, significantly less educational spending than the average American school, a significantly lower amount of hours spend in classes per year, and with teachers that rarely work longer hours than the students manage to outshine everyone else?
Timothy Walker started his teaching career in the United States, before moving to Finland with his wife and child so they could be closer to her family. There, he joined the Helsinki public school system, and got a job teaching 5th grade students. Walker thought he was well-prepared to take on this assignment, but it turns out that he had to forget many of the habits he had acquired in American schools in order to become a successful teacher.
In this book, Walker outlines 33 strategies he observed in Finnish schools that may explain why Finnish students are on average more proficient than American or even Asian students despite spending less time and money. From assigning less homework, to sticking with more traditional lecture formats but then providing more time for students to explore on their own, from a more relaxed educational environment where the pressure to perform and to pursue further professional learning opportunities are not present, and from a system where teachers are encouraged to leave school very soon after the students, Finland can teach a thing or two on how to offer a more peaceful, focused, and conducive to learning school environment.
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