Don’t tell me anything more about students in Finland and how great the education system is there.

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Learning Strategies, motivating students, underachieving students

I don’t want to read another thing about how successful the education system is in Finland . I congratulate Finland for their fine education system, but I don’t want my school in Mississauga to be compared to schools in Finland because doing that is like comparing apples to oranges. Mississauga is not the same as Finland. Finland has 2.5 % foreign citizens. Mississauga has many more. 46.62% of residents in Mississauga (almost 700 oo0 ) were not born in Canada. Apples to oranges. Apples to oranges for Pete’s sake.

Mississauga has one of the largest, if not the largest, cluster of ethnic groups in Canada. At my school, the student body speaks over 60 languages. All this diversity is what makes Mississauga so great. I love it. But, all this diversity brings with it challenges that a more homogeneous country like Finland doesn’t experience.

I don’t want to write a post outlining all the challenges new immigrants face that can affect the them as they enter our schools. But, some students who are immigrants come to grade 9 illiterate in their mother tongue, and we are expected to teach them so they will pass and earn 16 credits by the time they are 16 years old. Some parents are struggling to learn English themselves and can’t support their kids and help with homework or assignments. Some parents work at two jobs to put a roof over their children’s heads and food on the table and aren’t there for there for their kids after school.

O.K., O.K. I’m going to stop now because I’m starting to write a post about the challenges of being an immigrant living in Mississauga and that’s just what I didn’t want to do. I just don’t want apples to be compared to oranges.

photo thanks to Dano

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Comments

9 Responses to “Don’t tell me anything more about students in Finland and how great the education system is there.”

Robert Courtemanche on July 19th, 2011 9:31 pm

I’m with you. Almost every country that is ahead of the US (Canada too, I guess) in education is a small country with a homogeneous population and few immigrants. They also usually pay their teachers better than we do in the US and have better education programs in their university training. Due to our huge immigrant population and poverty issues, it is impossible to make comparisons to other countries. Additionally, in the US, we really have 50 educational systems – not one. Each state has it’s own rules, regulations, pay scale, teacher qualifications and curriculum. But students often move from state to state during the process of K-12 education. Crazy huh?
Elona Hartjes on July 19th, 2011 9:49 pm

It is crazy. We need home grown solutions, not imported ones.
yvette Reid on July 20th, 2011 9:32 pm

I could not agree more, peculiarities produce challenges and opportunities which cannot be replicated in some societies and cultures. In jamaica the challenge is presented is mainly with the high levels of poverty related issues.

I would like to hear you on Differentiated Instruction.

look forward to read your articles.
Elona Hartjes on July 21st, 2011 6:25 am

Yvette,
Poverty related issues are a societal problem that society needs to help with. Schools and teachers can only do so much.

I find differentiating instruction useful for engaging students so that they are open to learning. What in particular were you wondering about?
kent thompson on July 21st, 2011 9:22 am

What you seem to be missing out on in the discussions is the steps Finland took to get where they are today. That is what is important. They had the goal of improving, began treating their teachers with respect, recruited the top graduates, and gave them the autonomy to run their own classrooms. Instead of high stakes testing them to death they gave them meaningful instruction. Instead of overcrowded classrooms with students spreading illness they have small classes and health care. They created the conditions for world class learning to occur.
Elona Hartjes on July 21st, 2011 1:13 pm

Kent,
What you say of course is true, but there has to be a political will for creating conditions for world class learning to occur. I don’t think we’re at that point yet. I hope I’m wrong and am just unaware of what steps the Ministry of Education is planning to take to improve things. I want to add here that since I teach mostly students who are academically at risk, I may have a skewed point of view. Perhaps my colleagues who teach gifted kids who win all sorts of academic awards would see things differently.
Pam Darden on July 22nd, 2011 8:30 pm

Elona-
You are right- it is a matter of political will and the realization of the moral responsibility we have to prepare our students to be contributing members of society. I, too, teach students with special needs, and am appalled by the lack of any curriculum and support programs for these students. As always, we are the “red-headed step-children” of the school system and are the last to receive supplies/money, but the first to receive blame, such as “We did not make AYP because of our special needs reading scores.” School systems do get additional money to support these students, but I have never seen it. Until ALL students are equally valued, we will continue to have sub-standard districts. I agree with Kent- it will take a complete change in philosophy for our school system to turn around- starting with picking the “cream of the crop” to be teachers and having society value and respect the work we do.
Elona Hartjes on July 23rd, 2011 9:52 pm

Thanks for sharing your insights. I too feel that students with special needs don’t always get the support they deserve. Unfortunately, some teachers “don’t have time” to implement the accommodations special needs kids have in their IEPs. It’s not always a matter of money.
Rosshalde on August 5th, 2011 6:15 pm

I agree so much with what you are saying Elona. In the US, we are so diverse in a number of areas. To compare our children to anything other than the same is to put them at a disadvantage. And why do we care so much about comparing our children? Why not focus instead on helping them reach their full potential.