My Professional Reflection

I have been thoroughly impressed with Finland's education system through the various articles we have read and the discussion we have had about what is working in their schools. I found it to be interesting that the country attributes their success to their teachers (it seems like the U.S. blames their teachers for many of our education issues). I especially agree with the level of respect their society has for its teachers which I think we do not have whatsoever in the United States. Finnish teachers' salaries are comparable with those in the U.S., but they are respected as professionals. Teachers in Finland have their master's degrees, they are given freedom in their courses to choose their own textbooks and customize their lesson plans and they are not required to administrator standardized tests. However, Finland can also attribute their success to the demographics of their students as the country is very homogenous and there is a high standard of living for all. Therefore, it would be difficult to implement the Finnish model into American schools, but I do think that we should increase the accountability of our teachers in an effort to gain more respect for the profession. I think that making master's degrees mandatory is a wonderful thing and there should be an emphasis on project-based instruction rather than standardized testing.

Another thing that I found interesting through the readings was Broadfoot's (2000) article, "Comparative Education for the 21st century." Though her article is dated now, I think that it still contains valuable information for those places that are still not educating their students using 21st century skills (like most of our country). I found it interesting the she writes about how education in the 21st century must "break out of modernist-based views of an externally imposed 'objective' curriculum, didactic pedagogies, and universalistic assessment procedures" (Broadfoot, 2000, p. 358). Broadfoot wrote just before No Child Left Behind was implemented which increased the universal assessment Broadfoot (2000) suggested we must go away from. Broadfoot (2000) also discusses Western models for education which place a strong "emphasis on academic, book-based learning; [and] on the grouping of children into age cohorts" (p. 359). Again, this was written 11 years ago and I feel that little has changed in our edcuational model. Though I doubt we will cease teaching students by their age, I do think that we need to diverge from book-based learning. It is impractical for the 21st century. We need to get our students engaged on a deeper level and incorporate practical skills so that they are competitive to work in a global economy.

I also enjoyed the article by Reddy (2005) about cross-national achievement studies, specifically in South Africa. This peaked my interest because I am going to South Africa in June of this year with a group of grad students and I am planning to start my thesis while I am there. I am interested in looking at how various countries teach their students in poverty and this article provided me with new ideas to ponder. Reddy (2005) discusses the differences richer countries and poorer countries have when dealing with poverty, because, in richer countries, the issues of poverty are usually external to the school environment such as family instability, housing concerns, and food concerns. However, within poorer countries, the concerns about poverty are internal to the school because the school itself is lacking in its basic needs to function. In South Africa, 8% on the schools have the esstential "facilities" needed for their students, such as desks, tables, dictionaries, and computers. Additionally, 30% of their population lives on less than $2 a day and 45% of their schools do not have access to running water. This extreme poverty is not experienced in the United States, even in the poorest areas. Reading this article has made me think about the direction I want my thesis and future research to take since the notion of poverty is vastly different in the United States as it is in South Africa.