It’s always fascinating to hear how other countries handle the education of their littlest learners, and even better to participate in a discussion with top educators on the subject. EarlyStories had a chance to converse on BAm! Radio with Linda Darling-Hammond, the Stanford University researcher and professor, and John R. Burbank, the executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute in Seattle recently, and learned just how early teacher training and support starts in Finland, and why it is considered so effective.
Darling-Hammond recently wrote “The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future,” an alarming account of current education conditions in the U.S. The book cites Finland, along with Singapore and South Korea, as models of equitable school systems, and on the radio show she describes why they get it right. Darling-Hammond says the success is due in part to the quality of training for teachers in Finalnd, which has a professional, unionized labor force. Finland’s social democratic model provides the same services to all its citizens, Burbank has noted, with early childhood care and education considered a public good.
It was a good starting point to be reminded of the many quality issues surrounding early childhood education in the U.S. and to think about w hat we might do differently.