The Finns just changed the way of looking at
education. It is not new to us, but it
is the first time it is implemented in a nation:
“What we need now is a different kind of education to
prepare people for working life," Pasi Silander, Helsinki's city manager told The Independent. “We
therefore have to make the changes in education that are necessary for industry
and modern society.”
The Finns are calling this "phenomena"
teaching. The Independent cites an example of a student enrolling in vocational
courses who may choose to take lessons in "cafeteria services." In
this example, the adolescent student would study math elements and languages –
for serving foreign customers – while working on writing and communication
capabilities.
Despite having an education system that does not rely
on standardized test scores, Finnish students perform extremely well on exams
that are given to students all over the developed world.
But now Finland is
looking to overhaul its education system and will now focus on more
on "topics" and less
on subjects, according to The Independent.
When I went to Medical School we studied patients
instead of subjects; parents and family members destroyed the curricula and
implemented a traditional system where subjects (Anatomy, Pathology, etc.)
were studied instead of the patients.
The Medical School I went to does not have a trace from the past today.
We have spoken about it in this blog:
I read different explanations on the Pisa Scores from different
countries in different languages.
Triathlon is related to education and Pisa Scores are relevant to
triathlon for that reason; although, education is cultural, meaning that we are
educated to perform for what the culture dictates. We can be great business men if we belong to
this culture, great scientist if we belong to this culture; even terrorists if
we belong to that culture.
To be good at our “métier” we need basic education regardless of what we
do culturally. It can be a doctor or a top triathlete:
1) Pay attention to details. Concentrate the most we are able to do (most
likely we do not know the limit and the limit does not exist). We need a
strong culture that supports learning as we see in the BBC video.
2) Pisa Scores are related to perform well in a
culture that produces “goods.” We need to be able to sit down to do the
testing, concentrate during the event, and solve problems according to what we
know as culture. If we have a sport
culture we need the same basic parameters of attention, concentration and
solving problems to perform well. I like
the video of BBC regarding Finland that has high scores in the PISA examination
since it started.
From the article written by
the Independent about Finns’ education, we know that there are basic things to
learn: In this example, the adolescent
student would study math elements and languages – for serving foreign customers
– while working on writing
and communication capabilities. In the case of triathlon, we need basic education emphasizing
attention, concentration and problem solving.
The athletic culture, meaning a way a life that helps to improve nutrition,
recovery and training in itself should be in place to speak about education to
be a triathlete. We learn from the
culture we live in for good or bad.
