Taking responsibility for development of a "whole child" is a significant endeavor for any early childhood educator. Guiding students to find identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world.
Holistics approaches a broad range of teaching goals and aspirations for children's learning that extends well beyond academic learning of social and emotional well being. As educators, we can find the small opportunities in our day today practice to incorporate and extend ideas that promote connection, community and well being.
There are many paths of learning, what is appropriate for some children, may not be best of for others. The art of education lies in its responsiveness to the diverse learning styles. by accommodating differences and refusing to label children as "learning disabled," teachers bring out the unique gifts contained within each child.
Finland Curriculum is far less academic than you would expect of such a high achieving nation. Finland students do the least number of class hours per week. Students in Finland have no mandatory exams until the age of 17-79. Teacher based assessments are used by schools to monitor progress and these are not graded, scored or compared, but instead are descriptive and utilized in a formative manner to inform feedback and assessment for learning.
www.guardian.co.uk
I enjoyed your post and was wondering where Finland stands academically compared to the U.S.? As you may have heard on the news the U.S. is slowly slipping and there are many counties ahead of us in all subject areas. I only ask this because many times quality is more effective than quantity. Students in Finland may be spending less time in class, but the hours there may be more productive than elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. I will be looking into this some more!
Sophia,
ReplyDeleteI agree that children learn in different ways. What may work for some may not work for others. Some learn a particular subject faster than others, especially by making connections. I believe that as educators, it is our responsibility to incoporate strategies and instruction that will help foster positive learning and success in every child.
Sorry...I meant, it is our responsibility to "incorporate."
DeleteHi Sophia-
ReplyDeleteI agree with Finland's view on testing. I feel that testing does help teachers to know areas for imporvement and progress but it is a great choice of theirs not to compare and contrast each iondividual child. Learning holistically is being accepting of each difference in each child. very person has a strong point to them that helps them to be a productive member of society. If we were all the same, then we wouldn't need others and our self-esteem and purpose would diminish. Thanks for the information!
Victoria Leming
Sophia,
ReplyDeleteI think that you made an interesting point concerning the diversity of students and bringing out the best in each student. Teaching is a profession that requires a lot of insight and I think it is very important that assessments provide teachers with information that is useful in considering the best approaches for educating each student.