A Vermont Educator in Finland: Shared Struggles and Shared Hope
Emilie Knisley, Fulbright Leaders for Global Schools Program
In January, I had the pleasure of spending 10 days in Finland as a Fellow with The Fulbright Leaders for Global Schools Program. This experience brought 16 U.S. K-12 school administrators to Finland for an intensive exploration of Finnish school leadership, the education system, and culture.
Often regarded as having one of the best education systems in the world, Finland shares many similarities to Vermont. A love of community, nature as an essential component of a life well lived, pride in their homeland, and a desire for the well being of their students and colleagues were shared universal values between rural Vermont and Finland. I was often struck by how much we had in common, rather than what separated us. In fact there were times that I felt that our system had more in common with our Finnish peers than some of my peers from other parts of the United States.
But what amazed me more than our shared strengths was our shared struggles as educators. Now this may sound alarming, but let me explain a little more deeply. When you seek out an experience of learning from the best educational system in the world, you feel that you can never create the kind of space where students can have the same experiences as their Finnish peers. And to be frank, in some cases that is true. Conversely, knowing that we were working to solve some of the same problems was invigorating because it meant that despite our differences there have been common shifts across the globe in what students need from their schools. And we are all adjusting and changing course to set a new path forward.
Finland has an innate pride in their education system, the system in valued in a way that is different than in the United States. Teachers are highly regarded and well trained, entering teacher training programs from the top tier of academic performance in high school. All members of the school community are incredibly trusting of one another and hold each other to high standards–administrators trust teachers to do their jobs and do them well, teachers trust students to do their studies and do them well, parents trust schools to do their job and do it well. Students and parents are given the opportunity to review their teachers and administrators as part of an evaluation system, and school improvement goals are set as a result of this feedback. All of this creates a kind of collective efficacy that is very powerful. There is a true sense that the strength of the community and the school is far more important than the needs of any individual within the school system.
Despite these societal differences our struggles felt shared and universal as well. For me that was enlightening and brought renewed hope that collectively we can solve the challenges before us. Sitting in classrooms, in administrator’s offices, talking with students and parents, and at the tables with government leaders, I heard many of the same concerns that I hear in those same settings in Vermont. The struggles of humanity and education are the same on both sides of the ocean–despite differences in language, cultural values, latitude, and longitude.
All of us who work in schools in Vermont day in and day out, have struggled adjusting to a new normal of post-pandemic schooling. Absenteeism, disengagement and dysregulation, increased mental health needs, and a host of new challenges have forced us to adjust our practices that we have held dear for many years. We work in a vastly different landscape than we did even 6 or 7 years ago. Often this leads us to wonder if it is just us in our own practice? Or just our classroom that is struggling? Or just our school that feels overwhelmed? These questions and doubts lead educators to feel isolated and overwhelmed, and that is not good for the profession that we all hold dear. There is a certain comfort that comes from knowing that the challenges we struggle with as Vermont educators are the same that our Finnish peers are struggling with–because they are human and universal–not created by our schools or a result of our methodology. It means we aren’t working alone as Vermonters, but have the ability to connect with a greater global network that can be mutually beneficial for us all. We can look to one another to create shared solutions and work together to solve shared problems. Our shared struggles can also lead to shared success.
