PILOTed

Women, #Equity, and #Covid

Maybe it’s time to also talk about gender discrimination.

In the age of Covid, where the home spheres and work spheres have become comingled, how are households coping? Who is taking care of the children when they are not able to attend school? This example can shed some light:

In looking at academic research papers submitted over the last four months, female-submitted papers has dropped by 70%, while male-submitted papers remained flat.

In most cases, even in cases where women are the main breadwinners in the household, women are taking on more of the domestic and childcare responsibilities than men. Laetitia Vitaud, a researcher on the future of work, estimates that gender work-life imbalances during Covid could affect women’s earnings for the next decade.

Governments are not helping. For example, in Australia, the government is establishing new subsidies for construction industries at the same time as it has pulled free child care for health and social care workers.

Some people are calling on Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a way to ensure greater equality and provide a safety net. But Vitaud points out that just looking at income without also considering care (child care, elder care, health care) and housing, and without also replacing stereotypes of gender roles with equitable models, is just magical thinking.

Yes, men have taken on more responsibility for their children during Covid, but overall, the burden has fallen disproportionately on women. It’s another example where the ugly truths of what’s not working in our societies become glaringly obvious; if we look at them, and not through confirmationally biased eyes.

Let’s take stock and start this conversation about gender roles and equity.

Meanwhile in Finland ...

Here in the US, schools were closed for the better part of two months, and fewer than 30% of students actually kept up with schoolwork.

Finland closed from March 18 to May 13, and then re-opened elementary and middle schools for the final two weeks. In a survey of students, over 70% of students thought that everything worked out well with remote learning, and students did not fall behind. What is the difference?

Strengths of the Finnish Education System

Equity: There are no huge differences between good schools and bad schools in Finland. All schools are good.

Stability: There are no rapid changes of priorities in education.  The Finnish Core Curriculum was publiched in 2014, put into practice in 2016, and is still followed.

Trust: teachers work with teachers, administrators and parents to figure out what works for every student.

The Finnish Core Curriculum

The change in 2016 was from curriculum that emphasized what to learn, to curriculum that focused on how to learn. The central tenet is developing children as human beings and citizens, and there are 7 broad, or transversal, competencies. Students learn through problem-based learning, collaborative work, with formative assessment that teaches them how to control their own learning and work.

Planned Digitilization

As an example, in the city of Kauniainen, for the past six years, the schools and teachers worked together to increase use of digital and online learning along 6 different axes: access and infrastructure, pedagogics, learning environments, teaching materials, structures and operating culture, competencies. Before COVID, there were an average of 1.7 devices per student.

COVID

Still, COVID triggered a sudden digital leap for Finnish school, but with hardware and networks in place, teachers prepared for digital, devices in students’ hands, and district systems already deployed, teachers could still follow customary curriculum, students could be assessed, and students and teachers could follow a pretty normal schedule.

There are still questions and areas that Finland wants to pursue. Because school is more than academics, schools also provide ways for children to socialize, engage in physical activity, and eat well. They want to understand

• why some students found remote learning better than learning at school
• how and when to use remote learning when a student cannot attend school
• how to refine ways for technology to enhance teaching and learning.

In Finland, digital leadership is long term work, and requires a culture of innovation and trust.