Enabling people to learn

A study into the Finnish education system shows that their model enables teachers and students to learn.

Purpose built, acoustically sensitive spaces have been constructed for several classes of children and multiple teachers to come together to create a shared learning experience. The children have a choice about working with their peers or being taught by the teachers and they have a mixture of subject and skills-based learning to choose from. The teachers trust the children with the task in hand and believe that the by giving the children the responsibility of their own learning, provides more motivation and self-regulation. The teachers acknowledge that this operating culture only works with commitment from the whole school community.

Traditionally, we often feel we need to learn from an expert. However, this skills and theory blend of self-discovery learning has this interesting link with driving motivation. In this environment we have multiple ‘experts’ being able to co-facilitate to aid their own learning and students able to choose how they learn, whom they learn with and what they learn. This trust and choice offered to the teachers and students drives motivation, focus and positivity, leading to a better quality learning experience for all.

Consider

Rather than teaching people the answers, how can you enable them to experiment and self-discover their own learning?