Stories from the Field
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Toranki School, Kuusamo, Finland
by Mike Casto, Interprofessional Commission of Ohio, The Ohio State University, and Editorial Board, The Principal’s Office
I stepped off the bus to visit a new middle school in the remote town of Kuusamo in northern Finland, just a stone's throw from where the Arctic Circle intersects the border between Finland and Russia. It is hard for those of us from the midwestern United States to imagine a more remote or unlikely place to explore innovations in education.
Along with my other traveling companions, I was greeted by the principal of Toranki School, whose name I have long since forgotten. But what I do recall was an eager and intelligent man with bright blue eyes who was excited to tell us the story of his new school. As we approached the building, he told us how, even before the building was designed, citizens from all over the region gathered to discuss the school’s curriculum. People were concerned that their new school prepare youth to live effective and productive lives in their remote corner of the world.
Through a process of discussion and study they identified four central themes for the curriculum of the new school: Environment, Culture, Science, and Mathematics. All content would be related through these four themes. Then he turned and pointed to the entrance to the school. There was a large roof supported by four pillars that provided shelter over the front entry area to the school. He told us that the roof symbolized the community and the four pillars were the four themes of the curriculum. The community was being supported by the new school’s curriculum.
Later we learned that the heart of the discussion about the new curriculum was the nature of life in Kuusamo and its surrounding region. The environment is harsh and a study in stark contrasts. Winter is long, cold, and dark in this land where the sun does not rise for several months. The summers are lush and green and the sun does not set for weeks in midsummer. The people who live here must be in tune with the rhythms of their environment. In the winter months it can be literally a matter of life and death. Even more important, understanding their physical environment allows them to respect, support, and preserve its fragile balance.
What would be the themes that would be generated if your school’s community gathered to identify a curriculum that would support the community? How would you incorporate those themes and weave together the variety of subjects that are required to be taught so that parents and students alike would see that the curriculum respects and supports their lives and their community? What process would you use to generate this kind of community involvement in developing an approach to the curriculum in your school? What symbols could be used to capture and preserve the community’s understanding of the school's curriculum and its role in supporting the community?
If you’d like to learn more about Toranki School in Kuusamo, Finland, go to edu.kuusamo.fi/toranki/en/index.htm.
