Finland schools: Subjects scrapped and replaced with 'topics' as country reforms its education system - Europe - World - The Independent

Subject-specific lessons – an hour of history in the morning, an hour of geography in the afternoon – are already being phased out for 16-year-olds in the city’s upper schools. They are being replaced by what the Finns call “phenomenon” teaching – or teaching by topic. For instance, a teenager studying a vocational course might take “cafeteria services” lessons, which would include elements of maths, languages (to help serve foreign customers), writing skills and communication skills.

More academic pupils would be taught cross-subject topics such as the European Union - which would merge elements of economics, history (of the countries involved), languages and geography.

There are other changes too, not least to the traditional format that sees rows of pupils sitting passively in front of their teacher, listening to lessons or waiting to be questioned. Instead there will be a more collaborative approach, with pupils working in smaller groups to solve problems while improving their communication skills.

Finland schools: Subjects scrapped and replaced with 'topics' as country reforms its education system - Europe - World - The Independent

Leitura, bibliotecas, escolas

Room to read é um projeto desenvolvido em 6 países africanos e asiáticos em escolas e bibliotecas escolares, envolvendo bibliotecários, professores, gestores de escolas, famílias e comunidades. Publicou agora os resultados da avaliação externa conduzida com o apoio da Fundação Gates.

As principais perguntas para que se procuraram respostas com esta avaliação foram

• Does having a library help make a child more likely to read for pleasure at school? 
• And what about at home? 
• Does having a library impact a child’s attitude towards reading? 

Vale a pena ler, são poucas páginas, e destacar algumas conclusões, tais como esta, que nos lembram que a transformação é muito mais eficaz feita a partir de dentro, e que trabalhar pela leitura das crianças passa por trabalhar com elas mas também, e sempre, com os adultos que as acompanham diariamente:

:

"A closer look revealed that training staff within the schools to manage the library instead of training external library managers proved to be far more impactful. "