A Visit from Finnish Education Experts
D-PREP was very fortunate to have been visited by two Finnish educators, Ms. Johanna Jarvinen-Taubert and Mr. Yuha Lahtinan, from Learning Scoop, a Finnish education organization during this school year 2018-2019. Ms. Johanna and Mr. Yuha had the opportunity to visit and observe all our D-PREP classrooms in action while the students are learning their usual lessons at the school.
They also carried a parent workshop for all D-PREP families sharing the ways and most important elements of the Finnish educational system and why Finland has been ranked as one of the top in the world during the past several years. Our D-PREP coaches also were fortunate to have attended a day long teacher training workshop led by Ms. Johanna and Mr. Yuha with exciting and innovative teaching practices and strategies to further challenge their thinking and self-reflection towards teaching and learning in general.
After having been at our school for two full days, Ms. Johanna and Mr. Yuha were impressed to witness the level of happiness in our students as a whole, world class school facilities and an inspiring learning environment, and the D-PREP coaches’ expertise in teaching and presentation skills. We learned a lot about how teamwork, collaboration, and trust among teachers, management, parents, and students are the key factors in the consistent and high quality success of the Finnish education.
They reminded all parents that there is no need to rush children to have to achieve, that the point of childhood is to let their curiosity and play lead their learning which is the most effective type of learning of all. A big part of the success in Finnish education is the ability to foster true independence in their students and to allow children equal changes to lead and take directions in learning.
Finally, they reinforced the practice of constant self-reflection and self-evaluation as lifelong practices as educators as well as the ability to adapt to the rapid changes that that are taking place everywhere in the world.
