Finland vs. The North Americas - A Comparion of Education

Today's topic of discussion and review, is based on the ideas from "Why are Finland's Schools Successful?" by LynNell Hancock. Canada and the US can learn a lot from this Nordic country, and if anyone needs a refresher on why we enter this great profession, it's surley us - teachers. 

Below is a critique & comparison to Finland & the Noth Americas' education system, priorities & overall apporach: 

“This is what we do every day, prepare kids for life.” A phrase you sometimes forget as an educator. Finland’s approach to education is in a sense, more holistic and human to that of Canada’s. The Finnish education system tries to ‘catch the weakest student’ where in places like the North Americas, it is more common to ‘weed out the weakest’. This means that schools will generally suggest a ‘lower’ level for students who aren’t strong enough in an academic setting. The complete opposite happens in Finland - teachers will do everything they can so that every student, no matter the ability, will succeed (this also includes holding students back a grade if absolutely needed). 

The article also states, “if you only measure the statistics, you miss the human aspect”, which is another stark difference when comparing Finland’s take on testing and standards. Things in Canada are looking up, but for a long period of time, aspects like test scores and daily homework outweighed aspects of what learning actually meant. Education is held at such a high degree in both countries but, the approach to how students receive and demonstrate learning greatly differs. There is ‘no rush’ in Finland, where in Canada there seems to be a strict timeline and expectations as soon as a child enters kindergarten. 

Finally, Finland’s education system is largely run by people in education, unlike the North Americas where business and politics have had a huge hand in educational affairs, which also speaks to what drives the overall goals of education in both countries. I think Finland provides a great reminder to the North American education systems to not forget that, “we [educators] prepare children to learn how to learn, not how to take a test...” and learning is life-long, tests are not.

Comparing Canadian Implementations of the English Curriculum

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to teach English in another province? What are the similarities or differences between Ontario's English Curriculum to that of say, British Columbia's? Look no further, this week's topic is an indepth, cross-comparison (yet still breief) of ON & B.C. in terms of each province's treatment of high school English. 

Here is a sneak peak at the report below:  

 This report aims to critically analyze and explore the comparisons between how the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia have managed important aspects of their respective English curriculums. The report will aim to highlight how each province responds to standards, testing, and organization of grade level expectations and skill sets students are expected to attain throughout their high school experience.

The full report can be accessed here.

Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below! :)

Brining it Closer to Home

 After reading and examining our neighbour down south, let's now take a look at the Canadian Perspective when it comes to teachers and accountability. Below, are summaries of two perspectives and a comparison between Ravitch's "A Brief History of Testing & Accountabilty". 

Notes on Testing & Accountability in Canada 

Examining the (Brief) History of Testing and Accountability

 At the end of the day, one can make the argument that education is all about student success and academic performance. We've obviously come a long way from this notion however, it's still very important to take a look at the history of standardized testing and accountability, both of which are aspects educators still think about today.

Diane Ravitch's article does an excellent job examining this history within the framework of the American public education system. Please enjoy reading my summary and take on her work below! 

Summary of "A Brief History of Testing and Accountability"  

Leadership Project

 

What happens when teachers don't agree on accepting or sometimes not accepting late/missing assignments? How does this effect student success? Why is it important for a department, to be on the same page when it comes to late/missing work? 

These are just the start of many questions every teacher has when dealing with those assignments that seem to have stepped off of the path to the submissions folder. 

Please enjoy reading my Leadership Project 😄

- I hope you gain some inspiration from the strategies I talk about, and hopefully it will help if this ever becomes an issue you come across. 

The Role V The Goal: A final reflection in leadership

The road to becoming a good leader isn't an easy one... however, it is through personal reflection of skills you didn't know you already had, mixed with strong leader figures in your life is what can and will lead you to situations where the leader in you has no choice but to come out. 

Please enjoy my final journal entry, outlining a recent situation where I had to demonstrate some leadership of my own :) 

 My Application 

Zeus

"A true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the size of his heart"

Let's have a look at leaders shall we? I am pleased to say that I have been surrounded by wonderful leaders in my career thus far - one of which truly stands out. He is my current principal and he has helped me in so many ways. 

As per the theme of this second journal post - I have decided to name my leader Zeus ;) I hope you enjoy learning about the Zeus figure in my professional life and I hope you find time to thank your own Zeus' out there! 

'O Captain, My Captain' Journal Post #2 

 

Sharing my Voice at the Roundtable: A Leadership Experience

 (Indigenous Resources Leader)

Teaching at the Continuing Education Center has never fallen short in providing me with new and exciting opportunities. I find myself in a very lucky and fortunate position writing about this leadership role. Considering the condensed staff, (a grand total of nine teachers!) this school year I was granted the opportunity to be the English ‘Department Head’. Though there are no set departments at our school - each ‘department’ has around 2-3 teachers. Each department is still actively included and welcomed to board meetings and other important department-related sessions. At this particular meeting, the curriculum consultant for the English & Moderns department, reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to share some of my schools resources and strategies for teaching Indigenous courses. The expectation for me was to create and hold a brief presentation consisting of possible texts, lessons, activities and resources used in NBE/NDW courses such as Aboriginal (FNMI) Voices, Contemporary Indigenous Issues, and FNMI Government in Canada. 

(HCDSB Department Heads) 

The presentation I created with the help of colleagues and other voices from my school community was shown to the rest of the English department heads at our school board. There are nine (9) high schools in total, so there were nine teachers who listened and were able to ask questions during my presentation. There was also the lead Indigenous resource itinerant present at the meeting as well, who actually helped me with developing lessons and materials during the first few times I taught NBE3C/U. The meeting and presentation was held on TEAMS and all of my files were shared shortly after. I have to give credit to the other teachers who helped me develop this presentation as it really was a combination of all of their voices and past experiences teaching the NBE/NDW courses.  

(Our school had a wide range of Indigenous courses due to funding allocation) 

The Continuing Education Centre had been granted a significant amount of funding for Indigenous courses, so naturally we ran more NBE/NDW courses than the other high schools. It also worked out that the Aboriginal Voices course served as our grade 11 English credit. Students who needed a grade 11 English course would take this instead of ENG3C/U. It’s a great way for mature learners to fulfil the English credit and also introduce Indigenous literature and history to adults who either didn’t learn much about it in high school, or to adults who are new to Canada. This year alone the Continuing Education Centre ran eight Indigenous courses, sometimes two courses per module. Over time, the teachers developed a resource bank full of Indigenous texts, lessons, and activities. It helps being a part of such a small intimate staff, but also has some limitations with the few voices being shared and the notion of distance from the regular day-schools.   

(Nervous!) 

I was nervous about the role, but excited to share my resources and ideas. I had only taught NBE: Aboriginal Voices a few times so, I felt a sense of inadequacy and uneasiness (at first) when I was approached to share resources. With the help of other teachers and voices, I was able to create something that I thought was a good starting point for teachers who were nervous about tackling an NBE course for the first time. Speaking in front of all of the department heads was a daunting task, considering how experienced and knowledgeable they are, however there is always a great sense of camaraderie and teamwork, that I didn’t feel excluded or pressured to show some perfect presentation. I had a time limit of 5-10 mins so even though I had accumulated a lot of resources I had to present it in a short amount of time. During my presentation, one of my colleagues was physically besides me cheering me on as well!  

(Collaboration) 

I don’t think there was any direct following, besides them following along to my presentation but, I think indirectly I hope the teachers took something out of my presentation and supplementary resources and applied it to their own practice. There is, and I think always will be a sense of intimidation when approaching such an important topic such as Canada’s Indigenous Peoples. Collaboration is so important and sharing resources and strategies is really the best way to learn and improve your practice. Even though I was the ‘leader’ of this presentation I never consider myself the absolute expert on Indigenous Education. I think the curriculum consultant reached out to me and our school, mainly on the fact that we had the most experience with teaching these courses, which doesn’t always mean we have the most knowledge on these courses. I think my presentation was a good starting point and hopefully provided some reassurance and motivation for the other teachers to be more confident in preparing their own materials for any Indigenous-based course.

Please click here to view the presntation I gave! Enjoy :)

*Quick Edit* - Our board doesn't use The Absolutely True Diary anymore

Notes on Plagiarism

Sometimes, imitation isn't the highest form of flattery. In any type of English class, it's seen as a serious
offence. Click here to view important definitions and strategies to avoid plagiarism.

Greeting Fellow Literature Lovers!

 

This space has been a long-time coming, so thanks for visiting my blog - I hope you take something useful for your own teaching. If not, I hope you come across something that at least made you smile.