Comparitive Education

Three things that stood out to me in reading the articles and watching the videos assigned were:

1. Finland's respect for the teaching profession (working conditions / competition for job / not about $)

2. Finland's investment in it's people (equal opportunity to earn a free college education)

3. A movement by Australia to develop a more nationalized curriculum (in effort to close acheivement gaps)

When I reflect on all of this, it makes me question the philosophies guiding our education in the United States. Granted our culture has significant differences in population (both pure #'s and diversity) with Finland, but it is clear by their actions that they invest in their people. Clearly in the United States, nobody enters the teaching profession for the big paycheck, but working conditions are often inconsistent with the investment we make in our schools. By creating more desirable working conditions, Finland (which doesn't pay teachers much more than the U.S, and requires a Master's Degree of all teachers) attracts forty applicants per teaching job!

Finland's students are motivated too. Why not, there is a guarantee of opportunity, if they will put in the work! Although the video did not get specific about the standards, it sounds as though students rise to the lofty challenges placed before them academically, and I am certain that they are motivated by the opportunity provided by their government to continue in college. What guarantee do our students get for their H.S Diploma? If they are lucky, they can accumulate a debt to the government that they will spend most of their lives paying back for the opportunity to pursue further education. Educators bring more to students and demand more from them.

Finally, Australia it seems is working to close gaps in achievement by creating an easy to navigate Nationally approved curriculum, that still seems to afford some flexibility to the classroom teacher. In general, I have not been a fan of this concept, but based on "where we stand" right now, I feel that there is a case for closer examination of this subject. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this issue, but I found it interesting that Australia is taking this approach, and it will be interesting to see how this works for them.