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International Work is a Great Partnership
Almost a decade ago, some of my staff colleagues were enduring my company, and we were talking about how lousy it was to fend off stupid education reform ideas travelling north from the United States. Alberta’s education system was simply among the world’s very best, but we were often pressed to do things the way they were done in the USA, including systems less good than Alberta’s. We talked about the energy required to push back against some of these reform initiatives. As the discussion continued, we also talked about our interest in learning more about the top performing education systems (other than Alberta, of course) instead of having to deal with stupid education reform initiatives from south of the 49th parallel.
Then minister of education Dave Hancock was also interested. We were at the front end of an effort to reform Alberta’s education system for the 21st century. What would happen if we established partnerships with the best performing education systems in the world? We could learn a lot. In fact, what we could learn would actually improve our education system. And we also came to understand that our system could teach other systems how to get things right.
The more we talked the more apparent it became that international partnerships could be very constructive for the teaching profession and also for the ministry. The partnership between Alberta and Finland was born.
It was fascinating to meet teachers from Finland, who came to Alberta and engaged with our members in six schools across the province. They had great questions about our education system. Why did we organize our schools the way we did? And what was it about our system that made it really enjoyable for students to go to school? The discussions were terrific and everyone learned.
Carol Henderson, then the president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, and I journeyed to Helsinki, along with a contingent of Alberta teachers, to learn more about the Finnish education system. I will always remember our introductory meeting. It was the first session for a project of at least three years and President Henderson was invited to make some opening remarks. The projection screen rolled down and the projector started, and Finnish officials talked with great enthusiasm about our “FINAL MEETING.” Carol and I looked at each other, and she went to the microphone to make her introductory comments. She said that she was surprised that it was our “FINAL MEETING” since the project was just getting off the ground. We looked forward to learning many things from the project over several years. Finnish officials were very quick to clarify that “FINAL MEETING” actually meant “FINland-ALberta MEETING.” We all had a good laugh.
But there was much to learn — how curriculum is made, the substantial professional autonomy afforded teachers, teacher preparation programs (magisterial degrees required), special needs schools, support services in schools, the very high regard for teachers in Finland, the state’s testing program (exit tests only at the point of graduation from the system). We met Finnish officials and we also met with representatives of the Finnish teachers’ organization.
Our partnership initiatives continue to evolve and expand, and we continue to learn more on the journey. Our goals are the same — we want to learn more from the best systems and offer our talents in exchange. As you can see from this issue of the ATA Magazine, the results are real. A student exchange program has been added and we have initiated projects in other countries too. It stems from a simple premise: let’s work closely with the best systems and learn together.
