Week 15 (02/05/2012-09/05/2012)

Professional Blog

This has been a very busy week as we had a visit from a tutor from Stranmillis, Jayne Moore. It was such a nice surprise to have a familiar face from home come and visit us. We very much enjoyed showing Jane around the local sites, our university, and accommodation and were able to enjoy the sun while filling her in on our experiences. 

Enjoying tea and cake in the sun with Kerri, Trisha and Jayne.

Professionally, this was also a busy week as we had our exam paper to begin writing and we also had our first visit to a Danish school since arriving here which was an amazing experience! I didn’t expect the atmosphere in school to be so different than in Northern Ireland, but I really felt that it was. 

One of the first things that I noticed when arriving at the school is how casually the teachers dressed. I had been told by the Danish students that teachers commonly wear jeans, however Kerri, Trisha, Jane and I  decided to dress in our usual professional clothing as we didn’t quite ‘feel right’ going to a school dressed casually. Even the Principal of the school was wearing jeans and trainers; therefore he wasn’t easily identified by us! The relaxed dress-code in the school immediately made me feel relaxed and also adds to the relaxed atmosphere within the school.

Kerri, Trisha and I outside the School.

In Denmark, pupils don’t wear uniforms; they can wear whatever they like, just like the teachers. The positive, relaxed ethos within the school could be very clearly seen as there are very positive teacher-pupil relationships. This is a result of teachers being on the same level as the pupils, there is no teacher-pupil hierarchy, like there is in Northern Ireland. I think that this is a result of teachers being called by their first names and having a very personal approach to teaching which makes teachers more personable and breaks down barriers between the teacher and pupils. This is the opposite to Northern Ireland were teachers are called by their second names and try to keep their personal life completely separate from their teaching. 

Open outdoor play area on the edge of the forest.

Having seeing it work so well in Denmark and sharing my ideas with Danish students, I think it is important for pupils to see their teacher as a human being who also makes mistakes and for teachers to express their real personality within the classroom. I have seen that this works within the classroom, as the pupils I observed clearly have immense respect for their teachers, a level of respect, which I haven’t seen to the same extent on my teaching practices in Northern Ireland. This is not to say that in Northern Ireland teachers are not respected, they are, but not the level of respect I have seen in Denmark. This is the level of respect that I now hope to strive for, and being lucky enough to observe excellent practice in Denmark has definitely influenced the way in which I see myself as a teacher and a person. 

It is safe to say that I have taken a lot away with me from my visit to a Danish School and am looking forward to putting it to practice on my teaching practice next year, back in Northern Ireland.

Week 14 (18/04/2012- 25/04/2012)

Professional Blog

This week we had a guest lecturer from Finland in our Education Studies class who gave us a presentation about the Finnish School System. I was very interested to hear, as were all the other students and our Education lecturer, what she had to say, as Finland is well known internationally for having an excellent education system. 

Finland has the highest scores in the PISA reading testing system, therefore  I was very interested to find out the secrets of their successes. However, I discovered that there have been no obvious reasons found, why Finland are the highest scorers in the PISA testing and have such a prestigious educational position in Europe.  As there are no definite conclusions about the successes of the Finnish education system, it was handed to us to have group discussions in class about why we think Finland are considered so educationally prestigious, based on the guest lecturer’s information about the Finnish education system, our new knowledge about the Danish education system and also the education systems in our own home countries. It was a very valuable activity as it allowed us to think about and evaluate different education systems in order to reflect on what we think makes a ‘good’ and ‘effective’ education system. Since coming to Denmark and taking part in such activities, evaluating and analysing different education systems, I have gained a more heightened appreciation for our education system in Northern Ireland and for the Northern Ireland Curriculum. The other Erasmus students have also shared with me their appreciation for the Northern Ireland Curriculum as I have showed it to them online and in fact some students have went on to use it within their assignments as they like the ideas and suggestions presented. The Northern Ireland Education system should be proud of this.

Our class came to various conclusions about the Finnish Education System and its effectiveness. One cultural aspect to point out is that the lecturer described Finland as being ‘educationally religious’ in that there is a lot of focus placed on education and it is seen to most people in Finland as part of their culture and way of life.  In Finland, teachers are greatly respected and parents have a great deal of trust in teachers. Being a teacher is a very prestigious job. This trust between parents and teachers is something Northern Ireland could benefit from as it is at the essence of school life and helps increase enthusiasm for learning. It is perhaps the main, but less obvious, secret to Finland’s success! 

Another key to success for Finland may be the autonomy of each school within the Education system, as there is only a loose framework set by the government, then each school can decide what they are going to teach and how to organise it. Each teacher also has more autonomy in the teaching styles and resources they use and what decisions they make about their particular class in order to manage and meet the needs of the particular children in the class. There is less whole school management in Finland than in Northern Ireland. 

Having evaluated the effectiveness of Finland’s educational autonomy and Northern Ireland’s Northern Ireland Curriculum and whole school approaches, is education excellence then about getting the balance just right?