Minimizing the impact of socioeconomic background- It Takes a Village, and then some.

 At the forefront of many educator’s minds is the issue of helping students of all socioeconomic backgrounds achieve at the highest levels possible. Evidence suggests that low socioeconomic status, or poverty, is a lack of resources such as family support system, religious faith, financial security, and access to community support resources. Therefore, when a country, such as Finland, is able to overcome the socioeconomic barrier to achievement, the education world should take notice. 

Finland’s educational system truly functions as a system. It is an interrelated network of support for children that addresses all aspects of each individual. In Finland, access to education, daycare, nutrition, and medical care is a fundamental right of each child. The country places value on looking at each student in a holistic light, and making sure that emotional, social, medical, and cognitive needs are met at an early age. This is viewed as an investment in the future productivity of the country. 

Equity is a large piece of the educational puzzle in Finland. All students are given the same high-quality materials, curriculum, and access to technology. This begins in earliest childhood, because all children are offered optional child care at no cost to families. This care is considered to be a fundamental right, and is used by approximately 98 percent of families. This early-start preschool levels the playing field for students, and identifies learning disabilities early on, which increases the odds of overcoming them. Additionally, each student in Finland schools receives an Individual Educational Plan, or IEP. This means that each student’s needs are analyzed and accommodated. Equity in Finland requires the efforts of the welfare state as well as the efforts of the school system, and a network of support underlies the whole. 

Standardized testing is not the norm in Finland. Educational leaders there do not believe that testing is the answer to higher student achievement. Fewer instructional days are spent preparing students for high-stakes tests and teaching testing strategies. Instead, the focus is on creating the best possible learning environments using top-notch content designed to meet the end goals of instruction.   

These traits of education in Finland stand in sharp contrast to the public school system in place in the United States. The holistic view employed in Finland is not observed in America. Student’s emotional, nutritional, and social needs are not included in the objectives of the school system. In some cases, teachers go beyond the call of duty to attempt stop-gap measures to alleviate cases of student need, but these efforts are not systematic or consistent for all students. 

The equity in education that makes Finland schools shine is absent in the United States. Schools across the country are not equally equipped, equally staffed, or equally measured. Campuses in a district may be unequally equipped, especially where technology is concerned. Highly-qualified teachers may not be equally distributed in all schools, and parent support waxes and wanes across districts. Students who do not meet the criteria for special education, but struggle in class, may slip between the cracks of the system. Not all young children in the United States have equal access to quality childcare, meaning some children start kindergarten ahead of their peers. Medical care is not equally available to all United States children, so that some children who need vision care, hearing care, and occupational therapy do without those needed services.

Standardized testing contributes to a sense of competition in the United States, but this competition does not necessarily promote excellence in student growth. Instructional days may be devoted to test preparation and test-taking strategies, rather than individual student growth and guidance. Policy-makers rely heavily on student test scores, and teachers feel anxiety over the outcome of tests that do not entirely reflect grade-level standards.

Since student reading skills in Finland do not appear to be affected by socioeconomic status, the United States should consider mirroring some of Finland’s practices. 

Holistic Teacher- It's Who I Am

  What kind of teacher am I? This question has caused me to look more closely at my teaching practice, and consider my experiences over the course of the last 14 years in the classroom. I can identify with elements from all of the curriculum styles, but the holistic teaching style resonates most deeply. 

Holistic teaching aims to recognize the whole student, and address the learning needs of the whole student. Holistic teachers see the connection between student emotion and intellect, and in my teaching experience, I have found that connection to be strong. Many students who struggle to retain content have emotional issues acting as barriers to learning, and holistic teachers recognize that emotional needs must be addressed before learning can occur. Learning occurs at deeper levels when relationships are formed among students as well as between students and their teacher. Holistic teaching seeks to improve emotional literacy, or viewing the self in relation to others. To achieve this goal, I have utilized “social contracts” in my classroom for several years. The social contract outlines how students will treat one another, and how they would like to be treated by the teacher. Further, the contract details how the teacher would like to be treated by the students. These areas are negotiated as a group, with the teacher having final power of approval. 

This negotiation extends to classroom rules that are negotiable. Most holistic teachers favor clear, simple rules, but classroom procedures are more complex. For instance, many students are in favor of working in groups. We are able to negotiate together how often group work is done, and how many students are in each group. In addition, students negotiate within their groups which tasks will be assigned to each member of the group. This leads to problem solving and self-esteem, as well as social literacy. 

Another facet of holistic teaching seeks to view the students as individuals. I do not require each and every student to tackle learning tasks exactly the same way. Every teacher should practice differentiated teaching, but holistic teaching, in my view, takes it a step further. For example, in my classroom I have students who do not have Individual Educational Plans, because they do not meet any special education criteria. However, if I am aware that a home situation means that a student is transferred from one caretaker to another at 1:00AM in the morning, I allow that student to put her head down at the end of the day when others are completing “busy” work. Similarly, if a student is extremely shy, I do not require him or her to speak in front of the class in situations that are not essential to mastering the objective. I want each individual to feel safe, seen, and valued for who they are and the experiences they bring to the class. 

I believe that being holistic in the classroom also means appealing to students’ schema, background knowledge, and natural curiosity to the fullest extent possible during a lesson. When reading a historical novel in class, for instance, I bring in real examples of items mentioned in the novel whenever possible. If concrete examples are not available, we watch a video from an educational video streaming service that addresses the subject. In the novel “Johnny Tremain”, the main character is an apprentice silversmith. My students had no schema for silversmithing, so I located a video that interviewed a silversmith. He demonstrated the methods and means used in the time of Johnny Tremain, and this information made the content more accessible, while also appealing to tactile learners and giving them a glimpse of a hands-on career path. 

In summary, the holistic teacher views the student as a whole person, whose emotional, social, and cognitive domains affect academic achievement. Recognizing these domains, and nurturing the whole individual, adds a layer of authenticity to the classroom experience.