Opinion|Reader’s opinion
The awareness that we often fail to meet the goals of the curriculum is very difficult for a skilled teacher to bear.
Thank you Rita Hiltus on a careful speech (HS Opinion 16.1.) in the debate on the reasons for the widening gap in learning outcomes for primary school children. In her writing, Hiltunen suggested that the residential area can affect the quality of a teacher’s work.
The writing collapsed because now we talk about our daily lives in Helsinki schools in the first and second grades. We teach in areas where socio-economic risk factors that undermine school success have accumulated, by all measures. The issue is a sensitive one in the current context, as it is feared that raising problems will increase prejudice, stigmatize schools and school shopping, and reduce the attractiveness of the teaching profession. However, both because of the general value of our work and because of the equality of learners, problems must be encountered and addressed before it is too late.
In the schools where we teach, pupils and students who have grown up in Finnish-speaking educated and middle-class families are an increasingly declining minority. We try to enable learning in groups where the Finnish language is often practiced. Migration is brisk in our areas: new students are starting and old ones are constantly moving away. Recruitment of qualified teachers and student care staff has become more difficult in recent years. Regardless of the resources of the families and the starting level of the learners, the goals and criteria for learning and teaching are the same for everyone. In practice, however, the goals must be proportionate to what is reasonably expected of our learners. We are slower in our studies and we are cutting back on content. We customize and produce the teaching material ourselves. We try to keep everyone involved.
The situation in our schools is so polarized that there is not enough support for student care and demanding special support for everyone in need. The three-tier support model begins to lose its relevance if the premise is that more than half of students need at least enhanced support to progress in their studies.
The awareness that we often fail to meet the goals of the curriculum is very difficult for a skilled teacher to bear. The workload and ethical cross-pressures of some of our colleagues are finally exhausting. The perceived relevance of teaching and the appreciation of our own and each other’s work make us continue, but other resources, incentives and, above all, structural regional changes are needed. Our special pedagogical skills alone are not enough to make up for the inequalities in the starting points for learning that every child and young person themselves is innocent of.
The goal of Helsinki’s strategy is to be the best and most equal place to learn in the world. We are now demanding immediate action from decision-makers so that equality in education is not compromised in any school in Helsinki now or in the future.
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Reader opinions are speeches written by HS readers, selected and delivered by HS’s editorial staff. You can leave a comment or read the principles of writing at www.hs.fi/kirjtamielipidekirjoitus/.
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