Today we went to an amazing elementary school. The word for the day is "trust." In Finland the government trusts the principals to lead without rating their schools; teachers to teach without observing and evaluating them; and children to learn without assessing and grading them. No teachers on the playground. They trust children to return to school from the woods when they hear the bird call sent out on the school's outdoor loudspeaker.
The children, as young as 6, walk or bike to school themselves or in pairs.
Shelley talking shop with the assistant principal (far left) and the principal.
It was the cleanest school, in part because all children remove their shoes when they enter school each day.
These children were working on an environment project (with no teacher even in the room) in their mixed-grade groupings of kindergarteners, 2nd, 4th and 6th graders.
The children were asked to place stickers in places around the school. Green for places they learn the most, blue in places they like the most, and red for places they don't like. I couldn't find any red stickers.
The Sibelius Monument and some of us with some of our new found friends from
the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
Andrea and Heidi, together again.
Visiting both schools was an amazing experience. Trust is the key thread throughout the education programs. Children in both schools are encouraged to develop trust; trust in the adults who are their teachers, and trust in themselves to be able to make the correct choices. Being outside all day in the woods, enables the child to discover who he/she is and her/his place within the environment. Within the inside classroom, children are trusted to complete their work and teachers are trusted by the administration to plan the high quality experiences needed to move the children along.
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