Helsinki plans selective music class shutdown
-
Loading... - Vittoria Riva
- 16 Feb 2023
- 63 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
The reform would end all selective classes in Helsinki schools. They currently include classes specialising in sport, art and languages, as well as music.
Helsinki City officials are preparing a proposal to end selective classes that emphasise a certain subject starting in autumn 2024.
This would mean that the city would end selective classes specialising in music, sport and art teaching, in their current form.
Officials don't plan to end the possibility of certain students getting an education emphasising certain subjects. Schools would still offer that extra teaching, but the selected pupils would not be in one class as they are now.
The proposal is contained in municipal planning documents obtained by Yle. The proposal is being prepared by the city's education department.
One of the city's key goals in its current strategy is to combat segregation and marginalisation.
Jussi Chydenius (Green), who sits on the city's education committee, says that ending designated classes for specialised teaching plays a role in that.
"It's clear that children from families with above average incomes end up in these specialised classes," said Chydenius.
Avoiding segregation
The documents on the decision cite several different pieces of research that support Chydenius's claim.
Students are currently chosen by aptitude tests, which measure the student's ability in the subject among other things. The child will then gain access to a group with other similarly gifted children who may also be ambitious to succeed in their field.
In practice the city wants children from different backgrounds to spend more time together.
Chydenius is not necessarily impressed by the proposal to end these classes, however. He says he believes that the intake for specialised classes could be diversified if information about the possibility of joining them was more efficiently shared.
"There are families where they speak poor Finnish and don't necessarily know how to use Wilma," said Chydenius, referencing the ubiquitous parent communication app used in most Finnish schools. Read More…
