When Finnish Teachers Work in America's Public Schools
<i>adjusts his seat in his armchair</i> Yes, my uninformed opinion, but reading the article, I think the quote from Marc Tucker towards the end is right:<p>&gt;And the countries that give [teachers] more autonomy successfully are countries that have made an enormous investment in changing the pool from which they are selecting their teachers, then they make a much bigger investment than we do in the education of their future teachers, then they make a much bigger investment in the support of those teachers once they become teachers.<p>Teachers in these institutions are given a level of respect we offer scientists, lawyers, other professionals, so of course they are trusted to be given autonomy. Imagine the same level of scrutiny given to such professionals, if say we mandate every minute in a doctor&#x27;s meeting from a city authority, would they stand for it? When we talk about education, people often highlight the fact we spend a lot of money per student compared to other countries. This fact fits in with this hypothesis.<p>Once an institution gains that respect, the rest can follow. No, it may not be causal (teachers being respected leads to higher pay, better quality teachers, etc) but they are certainly correlated.