Educação em Portugal (VII)

O que acontece lá fora? Nomeadamente, naqueles países que se posicionam melhor nos rankings internacionais? Em anteriores notas, houve referências às experiências estrangeiras (ver aqui e aqui). Trazemos hoje, aqui, notícia de duas experiências: a finlandesa e a norte-americana. A experiência finlandesa, referida naquelas notas, no domínio da educação, é excepcional e atípica; a norte-americana tem problemas conhecidos. O que se pode retirar das suas experiências? As diferenças de contexto, nacionais e locais, têm de ser consideradas (e serão determinantes em muitos casos); por isso, as experiências só devem servir de comparação para ajudar à emissão de juízos de realidade; mas não autorizam a desconsideração da importância dos exemplos exteriores - estes serão outros tantos inputs informativos e de reflexão, a ajudar à determinação de soluções próprias.

A experiência finlandesa é retratada num artigo do Wall Street Journal, What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?. Excertos (o artigo deve ser lido na íntegra):

The academic prowess of Finland's students has lured educators from more than 50 countries in recent years to learn the country's secret, including an official from the U.S. Department of Education. What they find is simple but not easy: well-trained teachers and responsible children. Early on, kids do a lot without adults hovering. And teachers create lessons to fit their students. "We don't have oil or other riches. Knowledge is the thing Finnish people have," says Hannele Frantsi, a school principal.

Finnish educators believe they get better overall results by concentrating on weaker students rather than by pushing gifted students ahead of everyone else. The idea is that bright students can help average ones without harming their own progress.

Teachers must hold master's degrees, and the profession is highly competitive: More than 40 people may apply for a single job. Their salaries are similar to those of U.S. teachers, but they generally have more freedom. Finnish teachers pick books and customize lessons as they shape students to national standards. "In most countries, education feels like a car factory. In Finland, the teachers are the entrepreneurs," says Mr. Schleicher, of the Paris-based OECD, which began the international student test in 2000.

One explanation for the Finns' success is their love of reading.

Aquilo que pode ser feito para melhorar os resultados educativos nos EUA é discutido neste artigo do New York Times, Our Schools Must Do Better. Excertos:

Professor Kane and I were discussing what he believes are the two areas that have the greatest potential for radically improving the way children are taught in the U.S. Both are being neglected by the education establishment.

The first is teacher quality, a topic that gets talked about incessantly. It has been known for decades that some teachers have huge positive effects on student achievement, and that others do poorly. The positive effect of the highest performing teachers on underachieving students is startling. What is counterintuitive, but well documented, is that paper qualifications, such as teacher certification, have very little to do with whatever it is that makes good teachers effective.... rather than the demonstrated effectiveness — or ineffectiveness — of teachers in the classroom. New forms of identifying good teachers and weeding out poor ones — by carefully assessing their on-the-job performance ...This can be done without turning the traditional system of teacher tenure on its head. Studies have clearly shown that the good teachers and the not-so-good ones can usually be identified, if they are carefully observed in their first two or three years on the job — in other words, before tenure is granted...

The second area to be mined for potentially transformative effects is the wide and varied field of alternative school models. We should be rigorously studying those schools that appear to be having the biggest positive effects on student chievement. Are the effects real? If so, what accounts for them?