In this episode of Neuroeducation with Angie Dee, we explore the global climate of education and discover what Finland is doing differently to create successful learning environments. Angie discusses how Finland prioritizes student happiness and starts formal schooling at the age of seven. She emphasizes the importance of incorporating children's interests and choices into their learning experiences. Angie also highlights schools in Australia and Bali that focus on developing skills such as resilience, creativity, and environmental stewardship. By putting happiness at the forefront of education, we can transform the learning process and create a positive impact on future generations.

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Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

0:30 - Finland's Unique Approach to Education

1:45 - Comparison with Australian Education System

2:30 - The Importance of Happiness in Finnish Education

3:15 - Starting Formal Schooling at Age Seven in Finland

4:00 - The Role of Subconscious Brain Development in Early Education

5:00 - Neuroscience Behind Happy and Engaged Students

5:45 - Teacher Priorities in Finland vs. Australia

6:30 - Emphasizing Happiness and Outdoor Learning in Finland

7:15 - Personal Reflections on Educational Experiences

8:00 - Children's Interests and Choices in Finnish Education

8:45 - Innovative Teaching Techniques at All Saints and the Green School in Bali

9:30 - Preparing Students for Real-World Success

10:15 - Fostering Resilience, Creativity, and Social Responsibility

11:00 - The Importance of Enjoyable Learning Experiences

11:45 - Educational Outcomes and Adult Happiness in Finland

What is it that Finland is doing that's so different to

everybody else's style of education? Sure

enough, if we're really enjoying our learning process,

we are going to be learning much more and

we're going to remember it for a much longer time than

if we're disinterested and we're disengaged, which

unfortunately is a current pattern for many

children in many schools, and I would say in most

high schools throughout Australia. Welcome to Neuroeducation, where

we're exploring the neuroscience of how to switch on the brain to

supercharge learning. I'll be sharing with you innovative teaching techniques,

effective parenting strategies, and educational advocacy. I'm

your host, Angie Dee. Together, let's revolutionise children's

learning. Hello and

welcome back to Neuroeducation with Angie Dee.

I'm so glad to have you here, thanks for tuning in. Today

we're going to be looking at what is the global climate

of education? We all know all the things that

we don't like to see in current education and we know all

of the things that We feel like are

outdated in our factory style method of education over

standardization of teaching and too much teaching to

the test and worksheets. However, What

other methods of education are out there that are

doing fabulous work in education? What

other countries are doing incredible things and what

is possible? If we look on an international scale

and some incredible studies done internationally to

look at who is succeeding in education, not

just in maths, in reading and in science, but

also in life skills that prepare children to

succeed in the real world, Finland, again

and again, tops the scale. What is

it that Finland is doing that's so different to everybody

else's style of education? Well,

I was interested, so I explored a little bit and watched

some interesting documentaries on education in Finland. And

one thing that I discovered was the importance they

placed on something that just might surprise

you. When teachers were asked, what is

the most important thing for your students in Finland? The

teachers responded by saying the student's happiness.

I was taken back because I don't know of

any school here in Australia where they would

put that as the top priority. They might say

they try to make learning fun and enjoyable, but

as the top priority, I was quite taken aback. In

Montessori, ironically, she has

a quote where she says, the happiness is

the best test of the method of education. So

the happiness of the child is important. And now we know

this with neuroscience, where we can see that

serotonin and dopamine, two happy hormones,

are literally the best hormones that are

neurotransmitters that switch on our brain and make

it work. So what is it that Finland is

doing to make their children so happy and to make the

educational experience enjoyable? Well,

what they do is actually start school at

the age of seven. And so those primal years

of zero to seven, which we know in psychology is

forming the subconscious brain of the child, they

are allowed to be outdoors, to be

in kindergarten, to be learning and to be so

much more free than what you would see in

our education methods around Australia, where children are

even in prep. where they're four and a half to

five and a half years of age, where they are already

having to tick off so many boxes in the curriculum, having

to sit down for test after test. And in Queensland, where

we have the C2C curriculum called

the Curriculum to Classroom, they have to sit down

for test after test after test. Not

in Finland. In Finland, The official schooling

doesn't start until the age of seven. And when school

does start, happiness is at the forefront of

the mind of educators. I want you to think for

a moment now, as a parent or as a teacher, your

own educational journey, what are the things that you remember the

most about your schooling? What were some of those educational

experiences that stood out to you the most? Sure

enough, if we're really enjoying our learning process,

we are going to be learning much more and

we're going to remember it for a much longer time than

if we're disinterested and we're disengaged, which

unfortunately is a current pattern for many

children in many schools and I would say in most

high schools throughout Australia. So, how do

we put happiness at the forefront of the education? In

Finland, children's interests and

their choice is taken into account for almost every

area of their learning. What are they interested in learning? How

can you take an interest into a subject? And

how can they expand on that? And how can they research that and

find out what they're really interested in? Fortunately

I have a exciting story of

a school on the Gold Coast where I found out

recently All Saints has a

Wonder Room and in this Wonder Room they

are allowed, the students are allowed to ask questions about

anything they want and it's a room to explore their

interests and explore their creativity. And

I thought, how fantastic. That's one huge step

in the right direction, because we know when they're interested and engaged, the

learning is exponentially better. When we think about education,

we also have to think about what is the end purpose? What are

we preparing children for in the greater scheme of

things? Really, if we think about education, we

want to be preparing children for the real world.

We want to be preparing children for what they're going to

do when they leave school. What kind of person are they

going to be? Are they going to be kind? Are they

going to be compassionate? Are they going to be a social citizen

or a global citizen that thinks about how can they make the world a

better place? And what kind of

parent are they going to be to bring up the next generation? Are

they going to be able to follow their passions and their interests to

succeed in their own endeavours, which takes

resilience and grit and all of these things. These are

the kind of skills that are fundamental in

Finland and they see as crucial to help children succeed in

the future. And it's great to see some schools in Australia starting

to prioritise these and starting to bring them into

the forefront of education. When we

think about what kind of social citizens

we would like that graduate from grade 12 and

then walk into our world as adults and start shaping the

future generation of our planet, we

also have to think, are they going out there to make

our world a better place? The Green School in Bali

is an incredible school that is thinking about just

that. The Green School is about how to help guide children

to become social citizens of this planet, to take care

of our environment and to take care of our planet. And

every single subject at that school has purpose. about

how they can impact their local and their

global communities for the

better. And what's incredible is when I got to go and visit

the Green School in Bali, talking to the children about

how they were excited for their learning journey

and what they were learning was impactful in

their practical world. So when they were doing art

one of the young girls said to me we're creating these artworks for

an art show that's raising money for a local charity and

another student told me that they were creating dioramas to

show how they felt they could filtrate the

water systems better within their local school and

another student was explaining that they actually

take reused cooking oils they

filter the vegetable cooking oils, and

they use that as fuel in some of the buggies in

school. So they're learning so many creative skills, they're

learning innovative skills, and they're learning how to implement

it in their daily world. So, I

feel like if we can take something from these schools, it's

A, the happiness of the child. If we put that at the forefront of

our educational messaging as parents and

as teachers to make sure that they're enjoying their learning, we're

going to transform that learning process and we're going to

transform the entire educational process for the child. And

what does that do? If we do this again and again on

a daily basis and a weekly basis, a monthly basis, the

years of the children's learning that is enjoyable, where

they're doing work that they enjoy, that leads to

adults that do things in life that they also

enjoy, which is incredibly important, which we know in psychology, if

we're doing something we're passionate about and also has a greater impact, we

are, as adults, are much happier. And in Finland,

sure enough, they score right at the top of

countries that are the happiest in the world. So it just shows what

we do in education creates a greater impact for

all of the adults that we're growing to the next generation. Thank

you for listening to our podcast on neuroeducation

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