My daughter is a teacher on a sabbatical to research education in Finland to find out more about how the nordic education system is delivered. She is blogging as she goes on her travels and I am fancinated by the thinking that is behind not only their education but the thinking generally about life and children so I thought I would share her latest post. I am so very grateful to all the lovely people she is meeting who are opening up their homes to her and showing her the beautiful countryside. Thank you.
In Finland, anyone and everyone has the right to enjoy the countryside, no matter who owns the land, because of the legal concept, ‘everyman’s right’. Anyone may pick and enjoy the numerous varieties of mushrooms and berries that grow there; anyone may walk, ski, cycle, fish, swim and camp in the countryside so long as they […]
via Everyman’s (and woman’s) rights — Rethinking the classroom
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I love what your daughter wrote and what a fantastic opportunity she is having. Children need to grow at their own pace and have enough time for free play and free learning in nature, especially until 6/7 years. I am very wary of the UK’s rush to institutionalise children so early on. The primary school teachers obviously do their best to make the curriculum fun and engaging but academic pressure should be off the table until at least secondary school. We all develop so differently and children should be allowed to dream a while and freely create. The Finnish system reminds me a lot of Waldorf Steiner. education. We have a lot to learn from this country. Despite all the testing we are nowhere near a better country in the world academic league tables and child anxiety had never been higher. Being in nature is surely a balm for our souls and needs to be incorporated into our days. Thanks for sharing.
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I couldn’t agree more with your comments, we put to much store on conforming to pre-set measurments rather than creating a space for individuals to grow. I am sad to say than my daughter has left the education system for the moment although the good news is that she is exploring ways to make a difference to the system. Although she is not finding it easy to see a way round it to effect change it has to start somewhere so I give her my full support.
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I couldn’t agree more and am lucky to live in a place where my young boys spend most of their spare time playing outside.
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Thats so good to hear, children don’t seem to enjoy the same degree of freedom anymore. Their time is so fully occupied with extra curricular activities that they don’t have the opportunity to be creative, use their insticts to find their own amusement in their surroundings.
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Interesting and an attitude I totally believe in and tried to apply to my own children.
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Me too, I love to see and hear children at play using their own imagination and nature around them to entertain themselves.
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