Noticing strengths and focusing on what’s positive makes a difference
In Finland, the upcoming trend in recent years has been acknowledging the strengths of the pupils; focusing on the positive. Earlier there were different tests that were based on missing skills instead of finding the strengths of pupils. There are still some test run on pupils at different ages. All children are tested on their reading, writing and math skills when they start school at the age of seven. The main idea of the testing is to find possible learning difficulties at an early age. This way the supportive measures can be applied at the very beginning of the school career when they learn to read and write. During the nine years of comprehensive school, pupils are tested often and especially if they have learning difficulties. If we only look at the need of support based on disabilities, we often forget the strengths. Pupils have a lot of different strengths…