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Partnership has high expectations
Alberta and Finland have much in common—good schools, highly educated people and world-class ice-hockey teams. Both are located close to economically and politically powerful neighbours and both are near the northern periphery.
Alberta and Finland are wealthy societies that rely on international agreements, foreign trade and the mobility of their labour force for their success. Therefore, international cooperation is an essential element for building prosperity and well-being in both jurisdictions. And education is central to making Alberta and Finland international. So what can Alberta and Finland learn from each other about the internationalization of their education systems?
The partnership between Finland and Alberta educators sparked from the notion that a conventional exchange of information between two education systems creates interesting events but few changes in practice. Partnership is based on sharing knowledge and advancing the mutual interests of both parties. Establishing a partnership with Alberta is particularly inspiring for the Finns because of similar characteristics of their people and the cultural parallels of their societies.
Finnish educators have three main interests in a partnership with Alberta. First, despite overall good educational performance, some technical aspects of Finnish schooling need improvement. Leading and managing larger schools, improving school safety and improving schools through locally driven initiatives are issues that Finnish educators are working on. Alberta’s education system is well-advanced in all these areas and, therefore, can help Finnish educators to improve their education system.
Second, Alberta and Canada are experienced in arranging equal educational opportunities for children with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Finland is experiencing a rapid increase of non-Finnish-speaking children in its schools. The situation is particularly acute in urban schools, so good ideas from Alberta will be valuable. At present, about five per cent of students in the Finnish school system are from immigrant backgrounds. Some estimates predict that by 2020, the student population in schools in the capital city of Helsinki will be more than 20 per cent first- or second-generation immigrants. Finnish schools also need to learn how to cope with increasing racism. Again, Canada can assist Finland with this issue.
Third, Finnish educators are seeking endorsement of their own ideas and achievements from another high-performing education system. Finland’s success in education is a result of active and systematic adoption of good practices and new ideas from other countries, including Canada. However, it was clear from the first meeting of Finnish and Albertan school principals that new information isn’t necessarily beneficial—teachers and principals realized that many of their tried-and-true ways to improve schools were right. The way to reform education and improve schools is amazingly similar in Alberta and Finland. Both build on good teachers, mindful leadership and a strong focus on student learning.
Finland has enjoyed a long and rich collaboration with the United States. Finnish schools have undertaken joint projects with American schools, Finnish teachers study in the U.S. and many Finnish students spend an entire school year in American high schools. Conversely, few opportunities of this kind exist with Canada, for when Finnish schools do collaborate with Canadian schools, it is almost always with schools or universities in Ontario only. So Alberta is a new education partner for Finland, and we are looking forward to a successful collaboration.
The main reason for the Finland–Alberta partnership is to combine policy-level collaboration and school-level cooperation. Schools will play a critical role in helping policymakers improve strategies and action plans for educational reform. The partnership will provide a platform where educational reform ideas in both jurisdictions can be examined in a new light. The collaboration will create a new challenge for both education systems—will we be able to use this unique partnership of two high-performing education systems to enhance our understanding of complex educational change?
Education is going global in Finland. Internationalization is already an important factor in judging the quality of schools and the performance of national education systems. Internationalization is not measured by doing a headcount of mobile students or teachers. Nor is it judged by the number of international projects. The ultimate criterion for advanced internationalization of education is its influence on student and teacher attitudes, values and habits of mind related to other cultures and countries. Partnership has a higher likelihood to improve how people feel and think about each other. That is why the Finland–Alberta partnership has high expectations in transforming educational reform efforts to move from the inside out.
Finnish schools are excited to learn more and to celebrate educational success with Albertans.
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Pasi Sahlberg is director general of CIMO (Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation) in Helsinki, Finland. He has global expertise in educational reforms, training teachers, coaching schools and advising policymakers. His new book is titled Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn about Educational Change in Finland (Teachers College Press, 2011). He is adjunct professor at the universities of Helsinki and Oulu.
