Via The Helsinki Times, a September 20 report originally published in Helsingin Sanomat: Teacher cancels breaks – and quickly regrets it. It's a profile of Tim Walker, whose class I visited in Helsinki on September 15. Excerpt:
In the United States, Walker worked around the clock. After a seven-hour workday, Walker could spend four hours a day preparing classes. Vacation periods were spent in further training.
When the Walkers' first child was born, a third of Tim's wages began to go to health insurance. His student loan was an added weight. Tim earned extra money by doing the snow work at school and giving guitar lessons. Johanna, and Tim as well at times, took care of their neighbour's child part time.
Soon, the family began to wish for another child, but life seemed too stressful. An idea was born: What if they moved to Finland? Life would become easier, and Tim would also be able to familiarise himself with the internationally-known, Finnish school system.
The Walkers bought plane tickets to Finland, even though they had not secured work. Finally, Tim found a dream job at the Ressu Comprehensive School in Helsinki, which provides instruction in English.
"The principal had already interviewed four or five qualified Finnish teachers, but their English skills were not good enough. Thus, he was able to hire me, even though at the time I was not formally qualified to be a teacher in Finland."
This was a lottery win for a man who loves teaching and pedagogy. He was able to find out why Finland does so well in the Pisa study, which measures the educational skills of schoolchildren.
Energetic start
So he got to work. Walker began his first school year in Finland full of energy. First, Walker ended the 15-minute breaks. He felt that he had more time to teach better when he taught for 90 minutes straight, and took a half-an-hour break in between. The students would cope well, after all they did so also in the United States.
But the third day was already too much for the students.
"I'm going to explode!" a fifth-grader protested. "I'm not used to this!"
Walker thought about it. It was true that even in the United States, the students' attention had begun to wane during the long classes. As a matter of fact, usually exactly at the 45-minute mark.
Walker decided to return to the Finnish school timetable.
And goodness. What a change.
"Students returned from the breaks jumping with enthusiasm. And what's most important, they were able to concentrate for the entire next hour."
According to Walker, the Finnish school environment is wonderfully relaxed compared to that of the United States, where both the schoolchildren and teachers suffer from stress. Teachers there work long days, and a good teacher is expected to undergo further training, even during holidays.
"In Finland, the holiday of a teacher sounds like this: four weeks at the summer cottage, followed by hiking and a trip to Italy. I respect Finnish teachers, but at times it's hard to take their complaint that they don't have time for it all seriously."
Life in Finland is more relaxed, and that is a good thing. One day, the principal shooed Walker home, when he was still working at the school at 3:30 pm on a Friday afternoon.
Everything else seems to be better here as well: the students are more independent – for example, they themselves make sure that they are carrying the needed books. First graders only have about three hours of classes per day with the rest of time being spent playing in an afternoon club. The school even teaches cooking.
I can certainly agree that Tim's school is relaxed. But I also saw the effects of careful class prep: Tim could squeeze a lot of learning into 45 minutes, and the kids soaked it up.
A visit to a grade 3 classroom showed me a lot of equally relaxed, but equally busy, kids involved in small group activities. They worked both in their room and out in the hall (more room for a big mural on paper). The teacher moved from group to group, advising and suggesting. He never raised his voice, but now and then he'd lift a finger to his lips when the kids got a little noisy. That was all he needed to do.
Comments