We are still enjoying the school summer holidays, whether we are pupils, teachers, parents, other relatives, or community mem­bers. Some may even be looking forward to the schools reopen­ing, as they serve as places to engage children and youth, keeping them occupied rather than having them hang around at home, playing loud music, scrolling through Facebook on their mobile phones, or asking for takeaway food from the nearest outlet. It’s better that they attend classes and do some real homework. However, we should also remember that school hol­idays are an integral part of the school year and our culture of learning and growing up—if we are fortunate enough to be able to go to school.

Most of us have pleasant memories of our school holidays. It is no wonder, then, that Norwegians were quite up­set at the start of this year’s holidays when an influential group suggested do­ing away with long holidays in favour of shorter breaks and some summer class­es and vacation camps. True, we can do new and different things, but we should not completely discard the old tradi­tions. During long holidays, children of­ten do something completely different from school, reminding them that life is not only about attending school and learning but also about doing something productive and socializing in new ways.

By the way, with so many out-of-school children in Pakistan, when the school buildings are empty over the summer and the teachers and pupils are free, perhaps there would be an op­portunity to offer out-of-school chil­dren a chance to learn. I actually think that a summer vacation with some old­er pupils and youngsters, and a teacher popping in for supervision, could make a whole group of children literate in a short time. We could try it; it’s too late for this summer, but it could be done next summer, don’t you think?

Now, I will move specifically to the main message of my article today: we learn best when we enjoy what we are doing, whether during school holidays or ordinary school days. We keep work­ing at what we like or are challenged by, whether it is old or new, and we become more proficient as we keep practising—sometimes even excelling, though that isn’t necessary. On the other hand, if we feel forced to learn something we don’t like, or something someone has told us we are not capable of, then learning be­comes a burden and a struggle. Some­times, I wonder why we teachers can­not understand such simple and obvious things; we know them, but we don’t fol­low them. True, we shouldn’t only do what is easy and enjoyable, but also make an effort and do our best with more dif­ficult tasks. After a while, we may even begin to enjoy what we initially disliked.

A few days ago, I read an article in a Pakistani newspaper about education in Finland, where Dr. Asghar Zaidi, a for­mer Vice Chancellor, had a lot of praise for the country’s education system. The concept of enjoying learning is central to it all. Coming from Finland’s neigh­bouring country, Norway, and being an international educationalist myself, Dr. Zaidi inspired me to reflect more on Finland’s educational success, both in terms of pupils’ high achievements and their well-being at school. The philos­ophy of early childhood education and quite a way through the 9-year compul­sory school is that scoring high and do­ing well academically is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that the children learn to like themselves, enjoy their school days, and care for each other. They should be con­cerned about their classmates, helping them when needed and being open to receiving help themselves.

Before children begin ordinary school at the age of seven, the emphasis is on learning through play, not through teach­ing and a top-down curriculum. In fact, they say that children should learn but not be taught, and when the time comes for them to start ordinary school, they will be curious and motivated to embark on that lifelong learning journey.

In Finland, special education is used ex­tensively when children need help to cope with academic subjects and social situa­tions at school, with little, if any, stigma attached to it. Children move in and out of special education classes and groups, with the need for help shifting between clever pupils in certain fields and those who may generally be weaker. Again, the importance of being kind and supportive is emphasized. Furthermore, in Finland, class sizes are small, typically around twelve pupils, often with more than one teacher or adult. Finland is known for having well-educated teachers, in a pro­fession that is highly respected and diffi­cult to enter; I have seen reports saying that only ten percent of applicants are ad­mitted to teacher training.

It is well known that Finland’s educa­tional philosophy for basic education is superb. Less known is that much of the same philosophy continues through sec­ondary and higher education, with an emphasis on students thriving and en­joying what they do, often combining theory and practice. Dr. Asghar Zaidi’s article, which I referred to above, re­minded me of the simple fact that youth and adults also learn best in pleasant, student-centred environments. More­over, vocational secondary education can qualify students for higher educa­tion in polytechnics and universities of applied sciences, with pathways avail­able to move between traditional uni­versities and more practical institutions. The phenomenology or case-study focus ties theory to practice in functional pro­grammes, avoiding making theory a sep­arate, abstract area.

Yet, in Finland, as in the rest of the world, higher education will see ma­jor changes in the years and decades to come. Perhaps some of the innova­tions Finland is making, even at the secondary level, will spearhead devel­opments. However, I also believe that deeper changes will be necessary, even in Finland’s higher education and re­search, considering that much of what universities and colleges do will in the future be done by students indepen­dently or in groups, with lecturers and professors acting as advisers, organiz­ers, and motivators rather than teach­ers and examiners in the old-fashioned sense. These discussions, however, need further analysis and more arti­cles, so I will leave it for now.

Finally, since we know that new tech­nologies will bring many changes to learning situations in schools and uni­versities in the near future, we must be very careful when building our new in­stitutions, exams, and certification sys­tems. The Finnish approach to edu­cation, from pre-school through basic education to university and technical schools—along with long summer hol­idays filled with play and fun—must be preserved in the ‘new world of learn­ing’. Education must be enjoyable and beneficial for both pupils and teachers, and good for society. The time is soon over when teachers sit on their high stools and dictate what learners should do and learn. The time has come for the world outside the institutions and the learners themselves to decide what to do and how to combine practical and ordinary life with advanced thinking, jobs, and lifelong learning.

Atle Hetland
The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist with experience from university, diplomacy and development aid. He can be reached at atlehetland@yahoo.com