More opportunities for students
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Pasi Sahlberg, a professor of education at the University of Helsinki in Finland, speaks during a press conference at Daekyo Tower in Gwanak-gu, southwestern Seoul, Aug. 18, before attending Global Education Forum 2016 hosted by the Daekyo Culture Foundation. / Courtesy of Daekyo Culture Foundation
Korea needs to expand free learning semester: Finnish professor
By Chung Hyun-chae
A Finnish education expert has called for the expansion of a free learning semester program in Korea in order to allow more students to pursue their academic interests.
Currently only middle school first graders spend one semester without tests so that
they can explore their future career paths.
Pasi Sahlberg, an education professor at the University of Helsinki in Finland, points out that offering only one free learning semester is not enough.
“I think it is a good idea; however if you really want to help young people to realize their potential and know activity schooling, one semester would not do that,” he said.
“It’s a little like going to the gym twice a year hoping that your physical condition will improve. What you need to do is to do it all the time. If you want to get a good physical condition you have to go to the gym three times a week. It’s the same with the human mind and learning. We have to exercise all the time.”
Sahlberg emphasized that young people must receive more opportunities to find out what they want to do and how they want to study.
“If you look at Finnish schools, the whole school system has something that looks like your free learning semester,” he said. “I think it is a good thing to try and I hope it would somehow spread through the entire school system here.”
He made the remarks during a press conference at Daekyo Tower in Gwanak-gu, southwestern Seoul, Aug. 18, before attending a global education forum hosted by the Daekyo Culture Foundation.
He came up with four elements that make education systems successful. They are collaboration, creativity, trust-based responsibility and equity.
He stressed that equity is the critical force that leads to high-quality learning.
“An equitable education system will eventually conclude individual success,” he said.
Sahlberg has worked as an author, scholar, schoolteacher, teacher educator, researcher and policy advisor in Finland. In 2011, he wrote a book titled “Finnish Lessons 2.0: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland,” which has been translated into 25 languages.
“I think the comprehensive school system has been behind the good performance of Finnish students,” he said. “Keeping different kids in one classroom enhances everybody’s learning.”
Since the 1970s, Finnish children aged between seven and 16 have been required to complete the same nine grades of basic school, regardless of their academic achievement.
And he said this socially mixed class enables teachers to take an individualized approach.
“The second article of the Finnish education law says that teaching and learning in Finnish schools have to be arranged according to the needs of each individual student,” Sahlberg said.
Mentioning that the emphasis on excellence education is a global trend, Sahlberg pointed to how Korean parents focus on their children’s excellence to get them into top universities.
He cited Sweden as a good example.
“Sweden was one of the leaders in the world 20 years ago in terms of equality and equity in the school system but not anymore now because of the wrong type of national education policies and educational reforms that emphasize individual excellence. They undermined the systems of equity and equality,” Sahlberg said.
At the same time, however, he described Korea as, in his words, heaven in terms of education equity.
“Korea has high-quality learning outcomes and the system is equitable,” Sahlberg said.
According to him, an equitable system means that children’s performance at school doesn’t depend so much on the family background.
“Some people say that is not true here in Korea at all but that’s what the international evidence shows,” Sahlberg said.
Creativity and talent
The Finnish educator stressed that education should help young people find their own creativity and realize their talents.
Sahlberg sees the current situation as a human resources crisis in Finland and around the world which is comparable to a natural resources crisis.
“We are wasting so many young people in South Korea and Finland throughout our education systems without helping them realize their potentials.”
Sahlberg also mentioned the Korean government’s plan to introduce coding education for all students to teach programming in computer languages.
Coding education will be mandatory for elementary, middle and high school students starting 2018.
“I think coding education is good for options, but I don’t like the idea that requires everybody to receive coding education,” he said.
According to him, Finland also included coding education in mathematics to make every student receive such education.
“Deeper learning and thinking is becoming very difficult for young people who spend too much time with the internet,” Sahlberg said. “What’s happening in Finland is that these young people who overuse the internet with games, social media, whatever are reading much less.”
He noted that education should be focused on humanistic education rather than better use of technology.
“Education should somehow involve less technology at schools to respond to the 4th industrial revolution,” Sahlberg said, calling for more reading, communication and collaboration education at schools.
Following the press conference, Global Education Forum 2016 was held at the same place.
The forum was held under the theme that well-structured career education is the key to finding and developing one’s dreams and talents.
Established by the Daekyo Culture Foundation in 2012, the forum has been a venue for in-depth discussions of education-related issues such as ICT convergence education and personality development.