Finland Day 3 - November 4, 2022
Wow…a day for some really mind-blowing conversations. Today we had the pleasure of traveling to the neighboring city of Espoo, just outside of Helsinki. Myself and 2 others, Issac and Christina, were assigned to the Leppävaara Lukio, an upper secondary school, roughly equivalent to an American high school. Without going too much into the integrated structure of Finnish schools, upper secondary schools usually prepare students who are planning on going into professional careers or university. Students at around the age of 14 or 15 also have the option of attending a vocational school instead, yet this path also can result in students entering university.
At the school we were greeted by the principal, Ismo Kjäldman. Within minutes, we knew that we were talking to no ordinary principal. We began with a brief tour of the building which is temporarily housed in the former Nokia headquarters. After that, Ismo discussed with us the school, Finnish education, special education, Finnish language, Finnish history, and educational philosophy….all within an hour! What became apparent was that this was a person who had thought long and hard about what education means and how the concept of trust permeated everything about Finnish education and what he was trying to accomplish at his school.
He began with two core “Ways of Thinking” in Finnish education: 1.) Everybody is needed; and 2.) Everybody is taken care of. These two ideas were supported by the concept of deep trust between students and teachers, teachers and administrators, and families and schools. As Ismo stated, “Trust is like an invisible atmosphere in the school.” This trust allows teachers to do what is best for their students. According to him, the job of schools is to “awaken the inner motivation” of the student, not to control them. These were not empty platitudes. Every decision made by the school was built on educational research, collaboration between teachers, and a shared commitment to creating an atmosphere of learning. In what turned out to be a truly multicultural experience, we ate lunch with Ismo and a group of Italian performing arts teachers who were also there to learn from the Finnish education system.
Side note: teenagers are the same everywhere! In a class we observed, we saw a teacher reprimand a student for playing online games, talked with students about their favorite sports, and marveled at the number of students wearing Air Jordan sneakers and Major League Baseball caps:)
In the afternoon, we rejoined our Fulbright colleagues at the Espoo International school which teaches students from 1st through 9th grade. There we spent time reflecting on our experiences with principals and teachers. Yet again, the word “trust” just kept popping up! Whether it was listening to the 5th grade (recently minted PhD) teacher discuss interdisciplinary learning and cross cultural experiences, or discussing the importance of discussion and collaboration to the learning process, it became clear that it wasn’t just Ismo going on and on about this important word. Trust was the root of all learning here. Here are just a few quotes from the principals that I quickly wrote down, hoping to capture a few nuggets of wisdom:
- “It is very time consuming, giving the students a voice.”
- We feel we “are raising the child together with the parents.”
- “If they [students] feel safe and accepted, why would they misbehave?”
- “We [principals] enable our staff’s work…we are very humble in our work.”
- In a school “leadership is distributed and everyone has responsibility.”
I literally couldn’t write fast enough!
All of this led me to seriously reflect on the role of trust in American education. What does it look like to create a system or atmosphere of trust? Stated differently, what does it look like without trust? The opposite of trust is fear and, more acutely, anxiety. The daily drip, drip, drip of students and teachers not trusting the process, not trusting the outcome, not trusting the goals, wears individuals out. I wonder if the remedy for the ills of the American system isn’t more doing, but more trusting?
Difficult thoughts for sure. Nothing that a rousing game of international ringette couldn’t help to digest! Finland 8, Canada 3. Soumi! ::clap, clap, clap::
Until next time..Näkemiin.