Darlene Quayle: European Schools Research and Explorations

What is a LARP?

A LARP is Live Action Role-Play. Larps can be based on history, science-fiction, post-apocalyptic theory, real-life, or fantasy. They might have a lot of magic or none at all. A larp is not just a recreation of an historical event, (although re-enactments have their place in larping), but instead it relies heavily upon the improvisational acting abilities of each player. Many larps are based upon science-fiction or fantasy books that have been written (HP Lovecraft, Robert Jordan, JRR Tolkien, etc.) or movies that have been produced (primarily science-fiction and post-apocalyptic), while others are completely new creations, pulled from the imagination of the gamemaster.

A gamemaster (GM) creates a scenario, characters, chooses a setting and then runs the game with anywhere from two people to well over 100 people. While most of the players have specific characters, there are also NPCs, or Non-Player Characters: generally, people who are used for target practice. No, not really—well only sometimes. NPCs can help characters rally support for his or her activities, they can run errands, make connections and all without being a defined character with a specific goal. One of the most fun parts of larping is the battle. Larpers in Europe make weapons (swords, battle axes, knives, etc.) using thin fiberglass rods, foam and covered with thick liquid latex and paint.

The more complicated part of the larp is keeping track of your own rank points and life points. There is no paper to keep notes during a battle. Each player has abilities, and depending on the kind of larp, magical powers or fighting invincibility, which are all kept track of through the character’s actions and memory. Of course, keeping track of 3 healing spells is far easier than keeping track of 30 bonus points on a particular kind of strike. There are many rules and the rules are different for each type of larp, but once you learn them, they tend not to change.

Walk-In

Before this conference, we were able to participate in the Mittelpunkt “Walk-In,” which was geared for early-arriving guests to visit with locals and see some beautiful areas of the Rhine River valley. We have been fortunate to stay with a high school teacher and a university master’s degree student in beautiful Ingelheim. We visited the Marksburg castle above the town of Braubach for a very cold tour, and saw Marc Chagall’s stained glass work in St Stephen’s cathedral in Mainz. We tasted quite a bit of local food and beverage; the Germans are certainly well known for their sausage and beer, and the Rhine Valley is known for its white wines. The people here are very friendly and we were also we able to visit with the Latvian women who arrived early and were nice enough to cook up a Latvian meal for the group of us (they love their sour cream!).

My initial reason for attending Mittelpunkt was because my connection to Østerskov Efterskole in Denmark asked me to be on his panel at the convention. I was more than glad to share about my experience at the larping school and to see a couple of my colleagues again from there. Larping and thematic education go extremely well together, as evidenced by the large number of teachers at the conference.

In addition, since I was the token guest from the U.S., I was asked to hold a discussion about Larping in the U.S., about which I have very little knowledge. I know a bit about the “larping outside of larping,” as one person put it. That is, I am familiar with Renaissance Faires, the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism), re-enactments, Japanese cosplay, and murder mysteries. So I told about them, researched a few US larping sites on-line, and found a couple of other people who could tell about their experiences larping in the US and called it good. It actually turned out fairly well, and the larpers were quite surprised at the number of Japanese cosplayers that there are on the West Coast of the United States. (We have 15,000 at the Seattle conventions, and the convention in Los Angeles has 45,000 attendees! This conference had about 135 people).

photo courtesy Jansfotos.de

Mittelpunkt was a conference for people from all over Germany, plus several people from Denmark, Finland, Latvia, the UK, and Russia—and us. While there were mainly people in the late 20’s and 30’s, there were a couple in their late teens, and few in their 40’s. It was very interesting to go to workshop sessions about how to make latex swords, how larping is used with young people in school or therapy settings, and to find out about the kinds of larps that are run in Latvia and Germany. Most importantly, it was an opportunity to meet other creative thinkers from a different part of the world and make new connections.

There was another wonderful side benefit from this convention: I was able to meet and talk with teachers and make arrangements for short visits to three more schools/programs in Germany!

Christmas Day photo of Hélène and me (far right) with my daughter (far left), and Hélène’s son and daughter.

We spent the holidays in Provence (SE France) visiting my penpal Hélène and her family. She and I have been corresponding since we were 13 years old! While we were there, we went through her boxes of correspondence and found the very first letter that I wrote to her when I was in 8th grade. The last time I saw her was in 1980 when I came to France with a university program. We reminisced about that visit as well. Xena had the opportunity to meet her kids as well. She has a son who is 23 and at university nearby, and a daughter who just turned 13. We will be able to go back in February to visit her daughter’s school and will also be able to visit the school where her sister-in-law teaches.

Because schools are not open during the holidays, I have not been able to connect with very many people and of course, I have not been able to visit schools. I was able, through a connection at a hostel in England, to make a connection with a university staff member in Palestine (Israel’s West Bank), and he is making contacts for me to visit schools when we go there. Right now, the conflict occurring in Israel is very dangerous, but we are watching the news and will have people who live there taking us places and keeping us safe. I will be buying our plane tickets after this weekend if the situation stabilizes. Some of you may remember Ami Fields, the former principal at Blue Heron middle school. She is living just south of Haifa in Israel and will be scheduling visits for me at her school and at her former school there. A good friend of mine in PT with family and friend connections in Israel is making the rest of the arrangements for us, including homestays (Thanks, Dena!).

Our next stops, before going to Israel, are in Liechtenstein, a very small country between Switzerland and Austria, and at the Mittelpunkt convention in Germany. In Liechtenstein, we will have a few days to get some work done: to pull videos from the DVDs, update the blog with photos, do schoolwork. Liechtenstein is one of the few countries in the middle of Europe that is not yet part of the Schengen agreement. They did not join when Switzerland became the 25th country to sign the Schengen agreement on December 12th, so this stay counts as time out of the region for us. Remember, we are limited to 90 days within a 6 month time period.
The Mittelpunkt convention is an opportunity for educators and gamers to meet together for role play activities and for sharing how to use role playing activities inside and outside of the classroom. Because of our stay at Østerskov Efterskole in Denmark, we have been asked to be part of a panel discussing the use of role playing in curriculum at that particular school. I have also been asked to put together a very short informal presentation about roleplaying activities in the United States. While I have limited experience with the level of roleplaying they are accustomed to, I will be able to show a few pictures and explain a bit about the prevalence of RP video games, Renaissance Faires, Japanese cosplay, and my own use of thematic instruction at school.

For our remaining school visits, I am waiting to hear back from the ministry of education in Romania for school visits at the beginning of February, and am also reconnecting with a former PT teacher who is now teaching in Bulgaria. We will be staying with her and visiting her school at the end of January. I am also reconfirming school visits we had arranged with Hessen schools in Germany during the middle of February.

We are still scheduled to return home at the end of February, so we look forward to seeing you during the first week of March!

Happy New Year 2009!

Interestingly enough, there was a high school student protest going on, but unfortunately I only caught the tail end of the TV news report, so will have to research the issues. France is known for its protests and strikes.

When we first arrived in France from the UK, we had to rearrange our route to Paris because of a train strike. Once we tried to leave Paris, the results of that strike were that the trains we wanted were booked solid. We could only catch a late train to a transfer town, arriving in Lyon at midnight.

Since there were no more trains leaving that night, we went to find the hostel. The bus that we missed (the last one of the evening) departed at 12:15 am from the other side of the bus zone. Here, I have to take issue with the directions that were posted on my otherwise reliable hostelling site. No, the hostel is not just 3 km from the train station—really, it *has* to be at least 5 km for how long it took us to walk there. No, the hostel is not at the bottom of a hill—it’s halfway up one. A steep one. If I’d know how far and how steep that last bit was going to be, I may have paid the money for a taxi. Instead, we figured we could do 3 km—we have before—it’s only about 2 miles. We can do that in one hour with all our things. Right. We arrived at 2:30am. The hostel people were very friendly, and we didn’t have to disturb anyone in our room: we were given a small dorm that was just to ourselves.

The next day, however, there was no problem getting to Grenoble, and surprisingly, the scheduled bus to Alpe d’Huez hadn’t left yet, so we were able to get right on it for our trip into the Alps and up the 21 hairpins to the town.
This is a beautiful place. I will post photos soon!

On Tuesday, we head to Avignon to meet up with my French penpal, Hélène. We will be staying with her for the holidays.

Best of the holidays to all of you!
Darlene and Xena (Samantha)

I tried to contact eight different schools around the UK, but unfortunately, December is not a good time to visit these schools. They were having end-of-term exams, preparing for the holidays, or in the case of one school, having an inspection.

Instead, I have the opportunity to talk with a few people in the hostels, and learned a bit about Japanese schools, Australian schools, Singapore’s secondary system and UK schools. I had been thinking about dropping in on a school or two to interview the headmaster, and one retired Educational Psychologist, whose sister is a retired headmaster, told me that would be unheard of—that headmasters were usually busy and considered their time very valuable, that to have someone just drop in to see them would be a breach of etiquette. So I emailed and received a return email that the interview was not possible.

UK schools
Students attend either government schools or private schools (called “public schools” here). Grades one through 6 are considered primary school, then students attend secondary school (sometimes called junior school and senior school), then college at age 17-18. College is a blend of basic requirements and preparation for university studies. When students enter university, they go directly into their field of study and most exit with a master’s degree after three years. Some universities (Oxford, for example) require an entrance interview where potential students tell about themselves and demonstrate their interest and knowledge in their prospective field. I met one young man who was studying textbooks for his undergraduate entrance interview in anthropology. Not only was he studying, but he also had two practice interviews scheduled on campus to give him feedback and suggestions for his formal interview.
I read in the London Times that there are more American students now attending Scottish universities—but they are students from U.S. private schools with high-end funding resources. No, the average U.S. public school student still can’t get in without the higher SAT/AP test scores or an Associate’s degree.

Singapore Schools
In talking with a schoolteacher from Singapore, the educational system is very similar to that of the UK, with six years of primary school, four years of secondary school, then two years of university prep. Not everyone attends the university prep, but all complete secondary school. Men are then required to complete two years of military service before attending university, while women go straight in. The military service helps with a 2-year boost in salary, so when they graduate from university, they are at the same pay scales as their female peers—and have a master’s degree. She also had some insight into the Chinese schools and said that the structure is similar to many U.S. schools: 6 years of primary school, 3 years of middle school and 3 years of high school. She said she currently has one of her students in Harvard, one at Berkeley, and one in Princeton—all high-end universities.

Changes in the UK
There was an interesting report on the BBC radio about upcoming changes to the British educational system. The goal is to move away from the 13 required subjects into six combined thematic areas where subjects are blended together. This is causing quite a bit of controversy, as some people are afraid that certain subjects that are now clearly defined will be left aside, and that there will be confusion for students and parents if they don’t know exactly what they are studying if, for example history and geography are blended with literature. [links: DCSF press release or The Independent.]

Our friends from Japan and beyond at the hostel in London

Japan’s divide
You can’t go to any hostel in the UK without meeting up with Japanese people. One young man is just finishing his master’s degree and was soon returning to start a job in the finance department at a bank, consulting for large corporations—a very good position. He will continue working on his master’s degree and has expressed an interest in educational topics for his master’s thesis to supplement his degree in economics.
He explained that 20 years ago, all schools, public and private, were very competitive, and students worked hard, taking after-school classes and tutor sessions to pass the exams that would allow them into the best schools. In the past several years, the government has worked to make school easier or students to ease the intensive stress that so many were feeling. The result, he said is that there is now greater divide between the wealthy and the poor. The wealthy put their children into private schools that still have a lot of competition, afterschool classes, and tutoring sessions. These students are the ones that get into the universities. The students in the public schools have shorter school days, no afterschool requirements, and less competition for schools, as they are all supposed to be at the same level—one school is not more desirable than another. The result is that the students don’t have the same skills or work ethic, and they don’t get into the universities. The poor families become poorer and the wealthy families get richer because they have the university education and the connections for the best jobs. He considers himself fortunate enough to be an only child in family that could afford to send him to a private school.
I have found that the private-public school divide is prevalent among UK, Japan and US school students.

Australian schools
Australia also has public and private schools. The parents of the family I spoke to put their children in a private school and believe that their children receive a good education there. The mother regularly volunteers—the first I have heard in any of these countries of parents volunteering in the classroom. There are apparently different expectations from one state to another, and New South Wales, where the father was raised, has higher expectations than Queensland, where they live. The private school follows the NSW expectations and so students graduating from their private school exceed their Queensland peers, making it easier for entrance to universities.

Unlike other schools that were recommended to me by the ministries of education—often the highest achieving schools—the school I visited in Oss, Netherlands, tests at the average level in statewide testing. They were very welcoming and accommodating to us, and we appreciated the invitation to visit their school.

The Netherlands has three different systems that students go into after 6th grade: Vocational track (4 years), HAVO (college/trade prep, 5 years) and VWO (university prep, 6 years). Maasland College is one of three “colleges” (secondary schools) that serves students in the HAVO and VWO strands. It also boasts a strong bilingual education program: a full seventy percent of the classes in the bilingual program are taught in English. Maasland also has an IB program strand for upper school students in English in both HAVO and VWO; since it is not an international school, they are not allowed to run IB in all subject areas. At the end of their education, students must take exams: both their Netherland curriculum exams, some of which are spread out throughout the year, and the English IB exam. Most students pass the Netherlands exams; those who don’t are given the option to stay for an additional exam-prep year with courses specifically geared for helping students with the skills they need to pass the exams.

Looking at the curriculum, the textbooks that the students use are very specific and regular in format: there is an introduction either that they read or that is read or played off a CD or DVD for them, the student answers questions (the amount of expected time and whether it is a pairs or individual activity is specified in the text, although the teachers agree that they can choose to present it differently) and then shares the answers as a class. Most assignments are not turned in, so many students just write short notes in their notebooks for studying later for the exams. In viewing the classes, I found that some teachers were good about engaging the students in discussion and in supplementing their curriculum with interesting supplementary activities: videos, conversation topics, activities, assignments. Some also adjusted the curriculum to fit the skill level of the class (I saw this in PE). In other classes, especially with older students, some wrote the assignments and notes diligently and neatly in their notebooks while others just visited with their friends, ignoring the teacher completely.

The biggest challenge for teachers of the 6th, or final year, is that there are no grades (marks) and the students don’t see that their effort in class has any bearing on any potential university reference from the school or on their tests scores. Many of them see little value for their class-time activities, and without consequences beyond their 3-times-a-year test scores, there are students in each class who make teaching these classes a challenge.

In talking with the administrator, he said that around 7 years ago, the schools went from a very traditional system to one where there was more emphasis on letting the student have control of their education. Most teachers weren’t trained in this method and instead just had it thrown at them, and students were suddenly just expected to take control of their education, something they weren’t prepared for, either. As a result, there have been a lot of challenges in the classroom. They are now making an effort to bring the pendulum back and return a certain amount of the control to the teachers, and to train younger students to have the tools necessary for making solid positive choices in their education.

Discipline aside, the level of science standards was similar for comparable age groups in my district. Their second language learning was quite competent at age 16-17, and the reading level of their text materials was similar or slightly more challenging. There were a few different computer labs available for use by classes, but little or no technology in the classrooms beyond a TV and a DVD player. Unlike most other European classrooms I have visited to date, the teachers generally have their own rooms for teaching spaces, but still travel to other classrooms for some classes. Their school day is long and teachers feel pressured to fill it as much as possible to be able to get through the required curriculum. The day starts at 8:20 am and goes until well after 4:00 most days; they also have shorter time between classes—most classes are scheduled to start immediately after the previous, but students are given a few minutes’ time to get there from their previous class.

I was glad to have visited this school. So often I am sent to the highest achieving schools, the “poster” schools for the country, and I enjoyed being able to get a picture of a smaller city’s school, one that wasn’t hand-picked by the ministry of education. The train from Amsterdam was a long one twice a day to get there and back, but the opportunity was worth it.

Buckingham Palace

My daughter and I are now in London. We had very nice visits to schools in Northern Germany and The Netherlands; I’m just finishing up my blogs for them (http://dqjourney.edublog.org). The people were very hospitable and welcoming. We are still trying to make connections with the schools in the UK. It’s a busy time for them and some of them don’t seem to be open to visitors right now. It will be a good relaxing time for her, though. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult and stressful for her when she can’t understand anything people are saying—not to mention the early rising for schools visits! For the last two days, we stayed in Amsterdam and visited a school that was a 2-hour train ride to the south. We had to leave the hostel by 6:30 to catch the train to get to the school!—The first day we would have been on time, but they moved the train to another station and we couldn’t get there in time. The second day we were just plain late—but it was okay—our hosts were quite understanding. I guess the trains never run on time in the Netherlands and it’s not unusual to miss connections.

We’re here in London for about four days, then I will be renting a car to travel around England and Scotland a bit—it’s cheaper than using the train, believe it or not. We are big Jane Austen fans, so we will visit her museum in Bath and the film site of Pride and Prejudice in Derbyshire. Of course, we will also visit Stonehenge. There’s an alternative school in Scotland that I was told about and I will see if I can connect with them.

Outside a preschool in Rostock; the former Eastern Germany has a very strong government-funded preschool system.

I was fortunate to be able to visit with the sister and nephew of a friend in Port Townsend. She’s been in Germany since 1992 and her son was born there, in Rostock. She is a university senior lecturer and he’s in 7th grade. We had a much-too-short visit, and I hope that we can continue our conversations via email.

Helene Lange Gymnasium; Art class: student bring all their own materials

I also visited a bilingual high school in Hamburg, which provides two tracks of education for its students: International Baccalaureat (IB), and the traditional Gymnasium. Both tracks are designed for preparing students for university entrance. This is different from the Gesamptschule, or comprehensive school, that we call high school in the U.S.
Students who attend the Realeschule (vocational/trade school) that many students choose to attend (or are recommended to attend) after 9th grade may choose to pursue their “A levels” after graduating so that they may attend university, but most go straight into technical jobs or job training.
Lower achieving (or less-motivated) students often go to a Hauptschule, where they get a basic education for service jobs.
Students start first grade at age 6 and have 13 years of school. All male graduates must perform one year of military or social service after high school, and most students travel to another country for a year after graduating. This makes most students starting university about 20-21 years old.

This school has been bilingual in practice for over 30 years, and officially a Hamburg bilingual school for 15 years. There are currently ten English bilingual schools in Hamburg and two French bilingual schools. They feel strongly that bilingual education must start early (most start English in 3rd or 4th grade, and there is an effort to start English lessons in 1st grade), and that students benefit both in language and academically from this. I spoke with a woman from Stuttgart, and she said she knew of two English bilingual schools and one French bilingual school there, as well.

Unfortunately for the teachers in Hamburg, the government has only just begun to see value in technology for schools, so the schools here have overhead projectors and maybe one or two small computer labs per 3000 students. Teachers do not have computers in their rooms, only one or two to share in the staff room. As in other schools we have seen so far, teachers share a planning area, a staff room, and move from room to room to teach their subject area. They are envious of teachers in the U.S. who get their own rooms and require the students to move instead. My daughter sees value in the students having their own classroom and therefore the space to keep in-progress projects, despite the fact that the classrooms are fairly small and have little storage space.

The math level in Germany is much higher than I have found in other schools. Students are using cross-cancelling and mental shortcuts and order of operations with multiple fractions and are working in pre-calculus at 10th grade. Students here are surprised that geography is not a required, separate subject in American schools, but after sitting in a geography class, I realized that our geography studies are not missing, but enveloped into science as earth science coursework, and into history as map and social geography studies. In 6th grade art class, students are working with contrast using color. They have a textbook for art that is referenced by students from 5th grade through 8th grade.

While there are some textbooks available, there are few made for bilingual schools, so the school selects its own texts to best meet the state requirements for the subject area, and teachers often create their own materials to supplement concepts. They have a sister-school connection with a high school in Illinois, and after a visit there, several teachers were able to provide information and pictures for the textbook that they use for American Studies.

This particular school is known for being at the high end of the scale for schools in Germany, and especially in the Hamburg state. They offer an IB program as well to further challenge their university-bound students, and students are tested twice a year, including oral exams, and give group presentations beginning at an early age. Public speaking is important, and they encourage argumentation skills and independence of thought.

The biggest challenge for German schools right now is that the school system is changing from a grades 1-13 program to a 0-12 program. Students already in the system now have to crunch 9 years of secondary education into 8 years, and with specific learning expectations and school-based decision-making for its structure (including profiles, or interest groupings, that put students into academic teams), this puts extra stress on the teachers as well.

I will be visiting another school later in my journey and look forward to hearing more about German school issues as they are addressed in another one of the country’s states.

Estonia is wired. Every park, café, restaurant, hotel has free wifi connections. The state government sees the value of technology in the schools and there are SmartBoards and document projectors connected to the teacher computers in many of the classrooms.

The school I visited is not a typical Estonian school, but the state determines the curriculum and all schools use the same textbooks. Students must apply and test for placement here—it really is a school for the gifted and for the parent-pressured student. These students are attentive, polite, consistent in completing assignments and homework, and their teachers give them grades for every subject at the end of every class—on-line so the parents can see right away. And this is in third grade.

While there, it snowed several centimeters of snow, and one fenced area of the playground was for students who wanted to throw snow. “You really can’t keep them from it,” explained the teacher. “This is why they come in a minute late from their break.”

In the “Small House,” or grade 1-4 building, students get five 45-minute lessons separated by 15-minute breaks and a 20-minute break for lunch, where student go to cafeteria in the other building—they carry their indoor shoes when they go there. A music specialist come in to teach during one of those class periods. Because there are so many students in the school, there are two shifts of classes. The 1st and 3rd grades meet in the morning from 8:00 until 12:45 and then the 2nd and 4th grades use the same classrooms beginning at 1:00. At the “Big House,” or the large, original school building, grade 5th-12th also shift out classes, with an overlap at midday.

My observations were limited to the 3rd grade classes, but I was fortunately also talk with the Project Leader, or Curriculum Director, about the older grades and the school as a whole. The music instruction at the younger grade levels involves units about different style of music. We observed students learning about marches. Their next unit will be on waltzes. The listened to three famous pieces and wrote notes about their observations. They practiced marching and shared their observations. They will be tested to make sure they can identify the pieces later and will be allowed to use their notes. The students also were able to sing a couple of favorite songs, both as a group and in pairs. The teacher had the students involved in the whole lesson, with movement, listening, writing, discussion and singing.

I watched two math lessons in 3rd grade as well. They were different in that one group was slightly ahead of the other. At third grade, they were finding the connections between symmetry in halves of geometric shapes, equivalent fractions and fractions as division problems. They had already been introduced to using variables in equations, and had an upcoming test on basic facts, including multiplication and division facts to 10s. One teacher says the state is very strict about curriculum, and they use the required texts, but for many of her students it is easy, so she supplements the text with her own items to provide more of a challenge for them. She often uses her computer and SmartBoard to create visual games for Friday review days. Both 3rd grade teachers felt that the SmartBoard was an especially valuable tool for teaching the younger grades. It certainly did move the class along quickly in their studies—a necessity in the compacted, shortened school day.

In grammar studies, students were working on subject-verb agreement. They practice printed writing during the first half of 1st grade, then move into cursive writing during the second half. All assignments, including math, are written in cursive and usually with pen.

Tallinna Reaalkool is very much like a publicly-funded private school. They have a new goal each year; this year the goal is for teachers in the upper grades to learn and use a particular piece of thermal imaging and weather-related equipment. They hired an Educational Technologist whole role it is to train teachers in the technology they are using in the classrooms and to be available for the teachers during lessons when they need help. The parents are supportive and insist on both quality education and their child’s successful performance at school. While they don’t volunteer in the classroom, they often help with field trips, which frequently have as a destination the place of work of one of the parents, and with making the business and political connections for making the wheels turn for school projects small and large: most recently beginning the effort to build a new school building on site.

The primary section of the school includes quiet corners for students to work or to meet before class. Classrooms seat 30 students and most include digital whiteboards.

The secondary school features a large meeting room, suitable for all sorts of events, including dances. In the hallways, there are display monitors that tell about the day’s events.

Finnish Education: a contrast to expectations

There were several things I was expecting to see in Finland, and found quite the opposite in some cases. To begin with, I had expected a largely monocultural country, but found a great deal of diversity, especially in the city and in the suburb we visited to the east of Helsinki.
I had heard that the education was largely uncreative, but I found several very creative educational projects in the two schools I visited. I heard that students don’t start school until age 7, and that’s true, but that is because they start first grade at that age –school before that is optional, and most don’t send their kids to any preschool or kindergarten.
I had also heard that they were well ahead of the world in their skills, but the math I found in 7th, 8th and 9th grade was similar to the math used in the US, just in a different order.
I had assumed that because of the limited population speaking Finnish and the grade 3 requirements to start English lessons, that the Finns would speak more English, but it was still as a basic level in many places we visited. Students add Swedish (second national language) at 7th grade and choose a third foreign language, usually French or German, at 8th grade.
Finally, I heard that students and teachers are one a first name basis and have a more casual relationship. This is true in the classroom, but in the hallway of at least one school, the teachers become Mr/Ms. __, and all doors are locked, requiring a teacher key to enter one space or another.

Finland sets strict standards for learning requirements at each grade level. Each school can choose their own textbook and workbook; I saw a single text used for three years of math at one school and another text that had separate books for each year in the same subject at the other school. They provide basic school supplies and lunches for all students.

The two schools I visited were a strong contrast to each other.

Vantaa: Mikkolan Koulu

The first school we visited is in a poorer area and has a high number of immigrants, including language learner students. They have a high emphasis on music and have an incredible program in sewing and handcrafts. They respect and celebrate all the cultures that attend their school and maintain weekly classes that help students learn or maintain literacy skills in their home language. The school is split into two campuses: one with a music focus, grades 1-9, and one without. The music focus seemed to calm the students, possibly additionally influenced by the presence of 1st-3rd graders. The other campus is for grades 3-9 and seems to have more struggles with students fighting, having to deal with at least one fight and several skirmishes each week. Even with these peer interactions, most seemed to get along and have a good relationship with their teachers.

Each class has about 20 students as a maximum and most, it appeared, are equipped with a lighted document projector. The special education students are split out into their own classes at a maximum of 10 in each, while some are integrated into the larger classes. I asked about any stigma that these students may have being in special classes, but the administration didn’t see any. She said on the contrary, students in both special classes and regular classes have expressed their appreciation for the help they received, and many have chosen to remain at this campus for 7th-9th grades instead of going to a separate junior high. They all work on the same curriculum, using the same texts, although there is a bit of flexibility in choosing supplementary books. One teacher found some quality books that were designed by a special education teacher which she uses to supplement instruction when the concepts become a challenge. I still haven’t decided what I think about the separate classes, and would like more opportunity to talk with the students and hear their own perspectives before classifying them as a positive or negative practice in education. I am encouraged that they are learning the same material, just with more help or a different presentation/learning style.

I was especially impressed with the sewing curriculum. Students learn to use the sewing machine in 3rd grade and start appliqué right away. In 5th grade, they begin learning how to knit. Sewing is required for all students through grade 7. Students in 8th and 9th grade may choose it as an elective, and it seemed that these were nearly all girls who did so. The work they were doing in the older elective class was incredible: chenille work, quilting, and weaving designs into a scarf on a loom.

Mikkolan Koulu opts not to participate in the standard annual national testing. Instead, it has as its mission to help students have a strong well-being and be safe, and to develop, grow and learn. They are constantly in a discussion as a staff about values and how to address the needs of the whole child, since many students come and attend their school for up to nine years. They would like students to learn all the basics and to have all the survival skills they need for life. Their goal is to move away from “the way things have always been” and to provide the child with the tools for whatever their future will be.

Espoo: Saarnilaakso Koulu

Espoo was a sharp contrast to the first school in that it comes from a higher socio-economic area and population. There are fewer immigrants and the school has had great success in both the national assessments and on the PISA. They have no mission or vision statement and no school goals beyond its continued focus of helping students have respect, knowledge, skills, ability to think, manners, tolerance of others and an awareness of multiculturalism. The school has cultural festivals four times per trimester. Food is a major focus of these festivals.

I found that students were working on a similar level to my own school district in math, but that the 7th graders were competently and consistently working on chemistry equations that I believe our local students begin in 8th grade. They write out their experiment summaries in their notebooks neatly and completely without any grumbling. My understanding is that they start these experiment write-ups in about 4th grade, although one teacher said that the 7th graders don’t fully comprehend the conclusions and evaluation steps of the scientific process. In math, all the teachers of a grade level work on the same subjects, yet they rarely meet together for planning. They use a very traditional method of teaching math, working through the text, 6-8 problems at a time, going through homework at the beginning of classes, providing some instruction, and giving an assignment that students begin in class. Students seem to have their homework done in time for class, and make no complaints when called to write out a problem on the board. Occasionally students will work in pairs, but group projects are never considered for math or science. While there may be short quizzes, tests are limited to twice in a semester.

Their digital art and digital music program is very strong. In this 8th/9th grade elective, students create short animated videos (12 frames per second) using Macromedia Flash MX and add music and voiceover. They document everything they are working on and create their own textbook of sorts, which include handouts, class notes and project evaluation charts. Students can include extra research in this “text” in particular areas of interest to increase their grade. By spring, each 9th grade student creates their own project similar to our senior project, and presents it both at the spring assembly and on the intranet (in-school network). The digital music program allows students to use synthesizer keyboards and Cubase Studio 4 to create their own music. There are eight stations for students to work in pairs on developing music. The teacher often uses a SmartBoard to demonstrate concepts to the students. There are approximately 20 SmartBoards in classrooms around the school.

HomeEc is a required subject for students through grade 7, and optional in 8th and 9th grades. Students study about cooking, nutrition, recycling, laundry, and cleaning. They work in two pairs per group. Each pair makes the food item and is allowed to share advice and supplies with its partner pair, and the four share set-up and clean up tasks. Students have a textbook for this class and keep a notebook of home activities. Voluntary extra reports and activities can increase their grade. Home Ec, and its 9th grade elective “Baking in English” class is very popular.

Teacher professional growth

Teachers are required to have a master’s degree in education and undergraduate studies focusing in their field of practice to secure a continuing teaching job. They are not required to complete continuing education, being considered “master teachers.” The IT teachers do regularly complete extra courses to keep up with changing technology, for which the courses and the substitute teachers are paid for by the school, and while other teachers may get time off, there is little or no money for courses. At least one core subject teacher felt fully qualified in his field, did not see potential changes in it, and expressed relief at not having to continue to take courses.

Braedstrup Folkeskole, grades 0-9

Braedstrup is a government-run school and follows the national curriculum. Even so, they have opportunities for students to pursue interests and are able to be flexible when visitors come, opportunities appear, or crises happen. There are three buildings for Braedstrup: the “little” building where the children in grades 0-2 have classes, the old building for grades 3-6, and the newly renovated building for grades 7-9. They have quality facilities in the newer building for art, science, sewing and cooking. The older building will be replaced soon, to my understanding.

When asked about how the government supports her school, the administrator said that they send out a published booklet every month… and then detailed how the funding is used for her school. Like many other places, they received a 10% cut in funding this school year.

“Little School”

There is a bin of blue shoe-covers at the entrance of the “little” building for visitors to put over their shoes while in the building. The students leave all their shoes in the hallway at the coat racks. The desks are very tall, with tall chairs that have adjustable footrests. Students stay with one teacher for the day, and go to a central cafeteria during lunchtime. Most bring home lunches in little plastic containers. Students enter grade 0, our equivalent to Kindergarten, at age 6, some at age 7. Some students attend a preschool (called a “Kindergarten”) before starting school.

Middle School and Upper School
One of the teachers is concerned about the rigidness of the curriculum and the emphasis on assessment. Another prefers the structure. During our visit, we had the opportunity to do video interviews with students. They seem to like their school and most feel challenged, although some find it easy. For homework, they have about an hour at 5^th grade and up to two hours during large projects at 9^th grade. They thought this was fair to heavy. There are no sports or clubs affiliated with the school, so most students have few outside activities except perhaps private music lessons, recreational sports or if they are older, a job (rare). Their class schedule varies from day to day. Some days end at 12:45, while others go until 3:00 or 3:30 p.m. Most classes have a 10-15 minute break in between them. The students have their own classroom, and move only to go to a specialist teacher’s class, such as art or science. Otherwise, the teachers move from room to room to deliver each subject. They thought it horrifying to have to move from one teacher’s room to another teacher’s room and to have only 5 minutes in which to do so!

While most of the students we spoke with had started English in 4^th grade, the government has recently moved it to 3^rd grade at the first year of English studies. They add a second language (usually German, sometimes French) at 7^th grade. Often a student will add a third language during 8^th or 9^th grade. Most of the older Danish students spoke English fairly well, and the 5^th graders were able to understand much of what we said, which was a lot. We were asked to present about our town and our travels to four different classes of students.

In the fall, during students’ 9^th grade year, students spend a week visiting potential Ervervskoles or Gymnasiums to help them decide where they want to apply for the following year.

After Compulsory school
At the end of 9^th grade, students choose one of three paths: business/technical/trade school (Erhverskole), 3-year high school (Gymnasium-general university prep), or an Efterskole (intermediate stage interest-based school, after which they choose either the Erhvervskole or the Gymnasium.) Efterskole is available for 8^th (rarely), 9^th, or post-9^th grade, and occasionally a student will stay for two years. It is a uniquely Denmark tradition to attend an Efterskole. Because of this, it is rare for a student to graduate from high school before age 19 or 20. Most of them then take 1-3 years off before attending university, so most students entering university are 20-23 years old. During this interim, they travel and take jobs.

Substitute teachers
An interesting piece about schools in Denmark and Scandinavia is that the substitute teachers are not required to have a teaching certificate. Instead, they are recently graduated from high school and are trying out education as a potential field of study for university.

Odder Lille Friskole

Odder Lille is a private school which is 85% funded by the government. The parents pay for the balance of the child’s education here. Because it’s private, they can choose not to do the quarterly term assessments (which the teachers correct, I later found out from two teachers at Østerskov). The students still have to take the end-of-9^th grade tests for high school entrance.

One thing I noticed about Odder Lille is the easy relationship between the students and the teachers. There is also a big emphasis on students having respect for each other and becoming self-reliant. They have weekly all-school meetings, and frequent grade-level meetings for projects. Students have free access to materials for projects, and if something goes missing, the students bring it up in the weekly meeting, asking the other students to be responsible with the tools, and letting them know the difficulty they had in completing their project without that certain tool. The teacher rarely intervenes; instead the emphasis is on the student solving their own problems.

Most learning activities are done with partners or groups, and projects are very open-ended. This can sometimes be frustrating for students who are more advanced and partners who are less likely to follow-through, but I also noticed that at least one teacher decided to let advanced students work together so that they could push further and create their own challenges. All ninth grade students are required to create their own project at the end of the year and publicly present it to the class and/or parents at the end of the year, much like our own senior project, only without the community service requirement.
The sixth and seventh graders were working on language research: how American slang has infiltrated their activities and lives. They are creating graphs, PowerPoints, posters and presentations to show their findings. The teachers would like them to be aware of its influence and to reduce its use in everyday speaking (especially the swear words). We talked with a couple of groups about the standard consequences in traditional American schools for using that language.
The fifth grade students were making full-size trash people with chicken wire, plastic bags and trash. While the 8^th and 9^th graders were using the constructions room for their scale-model projects (“create a project in which you have to use scale measurement and math”), they just came in and used fabric from the storeroom and the glue gun. Teachers randomly circulated through the crafts areas, mainly the 8^th-9^th grade math teacher who was overseeing that current project. He would stop, lean against a table and chat with the students about what they were doing, answer questions and make suggestions for keeping their models to scale.

Students like Odder Lille school, and appreciate the opportunity to learn about things they are interested in. Some thought the 3-week project was a bit long; most projects are 1-2 weeks long.

The teachers all like working there and enjoy the atmosphere of camaraderie. All the staff members were friendly toward us and we were welcome to wander the school and take photos or talk with students in any classroom.

There is some concern that maybe the students aren’t learning enough, that it’s too free and loose, but the teachers are aware of the national standards and where the students need to be after 9^th grade, and tell me they make every effort to make sure that the integration of lessons and projects reflects those standards. Sounds familiar!