Finnish Education is Monopolizing the Twitter Feed

While I was scrolling down my feed this afternoon looking for an interesting tweet to blog about,  I was hit with this barrage of tweets and re-tweets about Finnish education system which came out of the free online education conference that's happening this weekend:

timbuckteeth Steve Wheeler

Finnish teachers act as 'humble servants' of the students. The students are seen as their customers. #RSCON3

 

kstef2 Karen Steffensen

#RSCON3 Finnish Education:learning is active; teachers think students are like customers- they are in service to them as learners

»

RSCON3 RSCON3

 Trust is the main thing to the Finnish education system! Wow! #rscon3 Live now http://bit.ly/pBGHKs #edreform #edchat

»

amberjudge Amber Judge

 Free Education in Finland because education is seen as a wealth for the nation. Educators have a high place in society. That speaks! #RSCON3   

»

timbuckteeth Steve Wheeler

 Everyone in Finland respects teachers. They are held in high esteem. #RSCON3

»

wellmichelle Michelle Hughes

 Wow, everything in Finnish education is free, equal opportunities for everyone and everyone goes to state schools #RSCON3

»

kstef2 Karen Steffensen

 #RSCON3 Finnish Ed: Elementary education-- thinking skills, cooperative teaching, multi aged groupings

 

 

This made me think:

1. Hurray, a lot of people are attending this education conference and apparently having really productive conversations about a model that appears to be utilizing many of the traits that reformers (and ourselves within the AUSL program) are working towards.

but

2. What makes Finland different so that they are able to make the political and cultural gains necessary to make a system they are describing, work?

and

3. Is it actually working?

As far as question 2 goes, I think the difference are multifarious and complex, ranging from the diversity of the Finnish population, to the overall size of the population, to the form of government, and the general higher emphasis that it appears Europe places on education that we seem to do much less of here in the United States. However, I wonder how much of this is used as an excuse not to take smaller countries with functioning systems as models, and how much of it actually leads to irreconcilable differences that cant translate.

And as far as the third point goes, I'm really interested in probing further into this. 

 

Thoughts or insights anyone?

 

Signing out on this beautiful Friday Afternoon,

the quickly evolving tech geek :)