Tuesday, January 27, 2009

To test or not to test or teach?

Apologies for the convoluted title. With exams coming up, issues of fairness are worrying me again. Questions about whether testing creates injustice and the assumptions behind what we are trying to prove.

I recently came across an article about education in Finland as well as a podcast on the BBC. It was fascinating stuff!

In Finland, for most of a students life, there are no exams, and everyone passes. There are no failures. Finlands philosophy on education is education for educations sake it seems. Everyone must have the opportunity to be educated.

Teaching is the most popular profession. Hard to believe! Respect? For teachers? Is this the paradise we are all looking for? Whats more, for every teaching vacancy there are ten applicants.

In a UN survey, Finalnd came top.

Why are we not reading up on Finish educational techniques? They're obviously doing something right.

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