Issue 55, Summer Term 2014

Teacher Northern

T his was the question the NUT delegation to Finland posed. Having visited schools, talked

to staff, students and members of the Finnish Union, the OAJ, several messages came over loud and clear. Firstly there is a huge commitment to collaboration at all levels – people work together. Following the Second World War the Finnish people set out to rebuild their society on the most equitable lines possible. The aim of education is to create a good and a fair society. And they take their time about it. For example the curriculum is reviewed approximately every 10 years and is done so over a 2 year period. The result is everyone feels part of the process. Secondly teachers are highly regarded and teaching is a sought after profession. Only 10% of applicants are trained each year. They are educated to Masters Level on a five year, university based, course which combines pedagogical knowledge with subject or phase specific knowledge. The teachers in the training school attached to Helsinki University were amazed at the dropout rates for beginning teachers that we suffer in England. The third major message is teachers are trusted. They are well educated and therefore given a great deal of autonomy over how and, to a great extent, what they teach. The public, including the government, trust the teachers to get on with the job. As a result in the early 1990s they abandoned inspection. Pasi Sahlberg, author of Finnish Lessons, was the last Inspector. With no inspection there is also no need for a great data machine. Children do not sit any standardised tests or exams until they are 16 when they

matriculate. In order to evaluate their system they use national sampling. Teachers do test children but it is for their own purposes to find out what their pupils know and can do and therefore what the teacher needs to do next. Teachers work 190 days a year with an average 30 hour week. This is what can be achieved without Ofsted, PM and constant changes in government initiatives. Salaries are around 3300 Euros a month. The curriculum too supports all children and is flexible enough to accommodate local needs. We saw wonderful examples of inclusion with small class sizes (16 – 20 is the norm). The desire to produce well rounded individuals means that all areas of the curriculum are given equal weight. At 16 children can opt for a technical / vocational education or a more academic curriculum but they can swap between the two and one is not held in greater regard than the other. Children go to their local school (there are no fee paying schools and no uniform) and each school has a psychologist, medic and social worker. Educating the young is a real team enterprise. From the age of 11 months to 6 years the state has to provide an education and childcare place. Parents pay according to their means but no-one pays more than 230 Euros a month. For these young children play, excursions and developing independence, social and language skills are of great importance. At age 6 children go to Kindergarten for a year before starting at the comprehensive school for children aged 7 to 16. I was interested in how children learn to read and was told that at one time people could not marry

unless they could read so this was a great incentive; many English language TV programmes are viewed with Finnish subtitles so children are seeing Finnish from a very early age and again they are motivated to read if they want to know what is happening in the programme. The language itself is phonically regular although the grammar is more difficult, and lastly children learn to read when they are ready. At all times the atmosphere we encountered was relaxed, cooperative and there was no sense that children were constantly being prepared for something else. The notion of “school readiness” is alien in Finnish schools. Each stage of a child’s development is valued for itself. The other great message is one union for all teachers. The OAJ represents teachers from pre- school to upper secondary and they have influence and power. Not everything in Finland is wonderful; they have been hit by the global recession too and cuts to funding are resulting in developments such as bigger class sizes and the laying off of teachers for 2 or 3 weeks. The union is also campaigning for preschool teachers to have a Masters degree but it is clear that solutions will be found through a respectful dialogue between all the parties. There is so much more to tell you but there will be a report from the delegation later this term with more detail. In summary there is Trust in the profession Consensus not conflict High quality teacher education A broad and balanced curriculum Anne Swift , National Junior Vice President

M embers of the NUT’s Northern Region paid tribute to teachers killed

in the First World War during a visit to Belgium. A group of 18 from the North East travelled to Ypres to visit the battlefields and commemorative sites of the Great War and explore their home region’s connections with the conflict. While in Ypres the teachers took part in the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate memorial to missing soldiers, laying a wreath in remembrance of NUT members who died while serving in WWI. The group also visited sites including the Tyne Cot Cemetery, the Northumbrian Memorial, the Passchendaele Memorial Museum and the Island of Ireland Peace Park during their stay, which was organised through the International Trust for Peace Education. A total of 20 NUT members are among soldiers commemorated at the Menin Gate and a further 13 are listed at Tyne Cot. While in Belgium the teachers also visited the European Parliament where they lobbied North East MEP Fiona Hall regarding the attacks

being waged on education by Secretary of State Michael Gove. Delegates had the opportunity to discuss with Ms Hall, who trained and worked as a teacher before going into politics, their alternative vision for teaching, and to outline the NUT’s Stand Up For Education campaign, before having a tour of the Parliament’s famous plenary hall. They described how heavy workload, unnecessary paperwork, endless data analysis and lack of resources are preventing teachers from focussing on teaching and learning.

And they outlined how the fragmentation of the schools system and performance-related pay are destroying collaboration between teachers and schools, damaging morale and ultimately harming children’s education. The NUT’s Stanley Association provided some of the funding to ensure the visit to Belgium could go ahead. Yvonne Noble, Stanley Association NUT Secretary, said: “I am so pleased that the NUT was able to give members from around the Northern Region the opportunity to visit the commemorative sites and the European Parliament. Personally I found it a great honour to learn more about the sacrifice of NUT members during WWI and to represent members from Stanley Association at the lobby with Fiona Hall. “This visit has also been a fantastic opportunity to meet with other teachers at different stages of their careers, to make links and to discuss with them the issues facing education. “It has been a very moving but positive experience and I am proud to have been part of it.” Amy Hunt, Regional Officer

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