Teacher Autonomy

From Education Week:

Teacher Quality, Status Entwined Among Top-Performing Nations
By Stephen Sawchuk

"'Teaching is a similar career to a lawyer or a medical doctor. It's an academic profession, an independent profession,' says Jari Lavonen, the director of teacher education at the University of Helsinki, in Finland. 'There is lots of decision making at the local level, and teachers enjoy freedom and trust. They work as real experts.'"

Thus, the sham that is accountability and VAM:

Accountability without Autonomy Is Tyranny

The real international comparison:

Finland's Success Is No Miracle

By Pasi Sahlberg

"By rejecting standardized testing and concomitant school and teacher accountability measures, Finland has instead charted its own path by focusing on equity, professionalism, and collaboration [emphasis added]. Much as Finland has learned from the United States, Canada, Germany, England, Sweden, and other nations about pedagogy and curricula, Finland may now be looked to for lessons about educational policy. American educators should look at Finland not to import elements of its school system, but as a place where great American educational theories and inventions are practiced system-wide every day."