The Swedish Model

A recent article in the Economist with the same title as this post was shared on educatorslog.in recently - it's about Sweden's "Knowledge Schools" where students

"do much of the work themselves....(through) the Kunskapsporten (“Knowledge Portal”), a website containing the entire syllabus. Youngsters spend 15 minutes each week with a tutor, reviewing the past week's progress and agreeing on goals and a timetable for the next one. This will include classes and lectures, but also a great deal of independent or small-group study. The Kunskapsporten allows each student to work at his own level, and spend less or more time on each subject, depending on his strengths and weakness. Each subject is divided into 35 steps. Students who reach step 25 graduate with a pass; those who make it to step 30 or 35 gain, respectively, a merit or distinction."

So many of us have been talking for so long about personalizing the learning experience by leveraging tools of the new web, creating hybrid learning spaces - online and offline, with individual and group work, and each child moving at his/her own pace...Well, here is someone finally doing it, and succeeding, on a large scale!

Lessons to be learned, to be sure.