There are people in the American education policy world who just looove Finland’s school system. The mantra: Finnish schools aren’t test-driven. They revere teachers. And there are no private schools. (Whether or not the Finnish educational system is a good model for the U.S. is up for debate.)
Now here’s another hint about why FInnish schools succeed: Their teachers’ lounges have built-in coffee bars and cafe tables, where the principal serves coffee and tea during breaks.
(The broader point being that Finnish school buildings are carefully designed and built to help teachers work well and students learn.)
“Every single detail has a meaning, has a purpose,” [Finnish education official Pasi Sahlberg] said at the June 14 exhibit opening, “because all of these designs have been done in collaboration with the teachers, the principal and the architects.”
That collaboration shows in the spacious teachers’ lounges and work spaces in the schools. For example, the Kirkkojärvi School teachers’ lounge has a built-in coffee bar and cafe tables, where the principal serves coffee and tea during breaks; the room is intended to give teachers a place to regularly meet casually with the principal and other teachers, beyond formal working groups. And the Sakarinmäki School, scheduled to open in 2014, has a separate wing for teachers’ offices and work space, which gives adults quiet for preparing lessons and conducting professional development work but connects to the nursery school and upper grades by a central atrium.
Read more at: www.edweek.org
