Why do Finland's children score some of the highest average results in the whole of the developed world...

The Finnish philosophy with education is that everyone has something to contribute and those who struggle in certain subjects should not be left behind. The children are not streamed or setted but are all kept in the same classroom, regardless of their ability in that particular subject.

Interestingly Finnish children spend the fewest number of hours in the classroom in the developed world. This reflects another important theme of Finnish education. All through schools are common in Finland where primary and secondary schooling is combined, so the pupils don't have to change schools and so avoid the potentially disruptive transition from primary school to secondary school.

Children in Finland only start main school at age seven. The idea is that before then they learn best when they're playing and by the time they finally get to school they are keen to start learning. Finnish parents and carers play an important part in achieving these impressive results. There is a culture of reading at home and families have regular contact with their children's teachers. The educational system's success in Finland also seems to be part cultural. Finland also has low levels of immigration. So when pupils start school the majority have Finnish as their native language, eliminating an obstacle that other societies often face.

The system's success is built on the keep it simple principle. Teaching is a prestigious career in Finland and teachers are highly valued and teaching standards are high. There is an emphasis on trust and workforce development in relaxed schools, free from political prescription. This combination, they believe, means that no child is left behind.

Chris

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

As we face yet another year here in Leeds, and sadly our last together as Education Leeds, we need to celebrate our incredible achievements with education, learning and schools, nurture and support the brilliant initiatives we are involved in and marvel at the people we have become...

These things are all the consequences of the journeys we have been on as individuals over the last however many years. Personally, I have been doing this for over 36 years and if we collect together the talent, the wisdom, the experience, the knowledge and understanding and the insight we have across Leeds what can't we achieve together... no-one can tell me that we can't build world class learning here in Leeds and continue to create brilliant learners, brilliant learning places and brilliant learning communities.

Of course I know that we are travelling through difficult and troubled times and that many of us have struggled over the years against command and control, missives from DCSF, OFSTEDs limiting judgements and frameworks, other national frameworks and potential straight-jackets which have in many ways limited and constrained learning rather than liberating and enabling it. This is an important time for those of us who are passionate about learning and how we create brilliant learners, brilliant learning places and brilliant learning organisations. As we wait for the 'perfect storm' we simply can't continue to tinker, to fiddle, to refine and to adjust the controls every five minutes... the current systems simply aren't fit for purpose!

The fundamental challenge is that the world is becoming increasingly complex, increasingly diverse and how we connect and communicate in this new conceptual age is critical to our success as individuals, as communities, as a city and as a country. Everything is changing and we had better wake up, stop looking backwards and start looking forwards. Looking forwards to a digital world, a world driven by abundance, automation, technology and global skills. We must understand that intelligence is everywhere... it is rich and diverse, it is dynamic and it is unique to each and everyone of us and not restricted to a priviledged and special few. As Dirk would say everyone is bright and everyone has a talent... it's the educators job to find it and to nurture and grow it.

We have missed the point with our never-ending focus and attention on testing and data and accountability and we must refocus our collective energies on creating a more personal, a more vivid, a more engaging and more stimulating offer for ALL our children, our young people, our families and our communities. If we are going to succeed in this challenge we must develop three things in our children, our families and our communities... creativity, capability and confidence. We must re-imagine our learning places and build.. brilliant leadership, brilliant teaching and intelligent assessment and accountability systems. We must work together to invent pathways to learning, pathways to excellence, pathways to success.

We must transform our provision... buidling on the outstanding practice we have here in Leeds and getting rid of the irrelevant, the redundant and the obsolete which clutters our lives. We must radically change the way we encourage, coach, nurture and support our children and young people, our families and our communities to become brilliant learners. This is fundamentally a partnership enterprise, a community enterprise, a cultural enterprise, an economic enterprise and above all it's a passionate enterprise.

And by the way anyone can join in!

Chris

'When the going gets tough, the tough get going.'

This year will be about attitude, determination and persistence. If you want to be successful in any aspect of your life you need great support, a lot of luck and to work hard, be determined and be persistent. There will always be people who will tell you that things can't be any different, that you are wrong to search for better things and that what you are doing is impossible to achieve.

Persistence is the powerful force that keeps pushing you on when that little voice in your head is telling you to quit. Persistence is an intense desire to succeed. You either have it or you don’t but the good news is that persistence is a state of mind and you can develop persistence. Now is the time to be more persistent than ever. Now is the time for us all to step up. Persistence will reward us all for our efforts when we achieve our goals.
Chris

"Another year is fast approaching. Go be that starving artist you’re afraid to be. Open up that journal and get poetic finally. Volunteer. Suck it up and travel. You were not born here to work and pay taxes. You were put here to be part of a vast organism to explore and create. Stop putting it off. The world has much more to offer than what’s on 15 televisions at TGI Fridays. Take pictures. Scare people. Shake up the scene.
Be the change you want to see in the world."
Jason Mraz