Concerned Parents and Lawmakers
“Recently, lawmakers in Iowa penned a bill that, if passed, would have required cameras in every K-12 classroom in the state. These cameras would allow parents to livestream their children’s lessons throughout the school day. Meanwhile in Indiana, a bill would have required teachers to turn in a year’s worth of lesson plans in advance. Both failed to pass their respective state legislatures. But a flurry of other bills and laws restricting what educators can teach—or even say—about history, literature, race, sexuality and other topics are alive and well.” Edsurge.
I just read this article that reminded me of the differences in who has a say in how schools are run, depending on the country you live in. In Norway, every 4 years before national elections, schools are at the front of the discussions. Every political party wants better schools, better teachers, and better students. Even so, Norway is one of the few countries that has managed to sustain its program of education reform over multiple years, despite changes in political leadership. Source; McKinsey & Company. After the change of leadership in Norway this fall, the Labour party has added this part about how they want schools in Norway to be; “Skilled teachers who have the time and confidence to follow up each individual student are prerequisite for a good school.” Labour party.
I wrote about the national reform in school education in Norway in this post. NATIONAL REFORMS IN SCHOOL EDUCATION
Professor Eirik J. Irgens at NTNU in Trondheim, wrote in this article about the trust reform in Norway and 3 points to emphasize. I think more countries would benefit from this advice.
- Limit political interference (feel free to learn from Finland).
- Strengthen the cooperation between the teachers’ unions elected and the school leadership group, and let them together find areas for school development.
- Highlight a Nordic management model. Take as a starting point the general part of the new curriculum, which sets out important values and principles for how the school can be managed and developed. Source Dagsavisen.