(Recording: with some quotes below)
As previously mentioned Derek Bartels (LEQ) and Kimberley Powell (LEVNT) hosted a session for Lutheran Educators during Finland Education Week and the HundrED Summit. The session comprised of a group of Finnish Teachers discussing with Australian Educators what it is like to be an educator in Finland.
It was the largest attended workshop of Helsinki Finland Education Week. If you were not one of the 170 attendees then there are some quotes below and a copy of the recording.
Some Quotes from the Finnish Teachers
“The approach to Contemporary Learning is very student centred”
“For every 45 mins of teaching we get 30 mins of planning time and 15 mins of outdoor time”
“My students start at 8.30 and finish about noon or 1 pm”
“We have no obligation to stay on the school site to collaborate with my colleagues at 1pm but we want to”
“The approach to Learning is very student centred”
“Students are involved in the decision making of the school such as yearly budget”
“Class Teacher Model – In Finnish education we can teach the same students from first grade to sixth grade”
“My students are my BEST work mates”
“We practice Whole of City as a learning environment for authenticity…over 4 weeks we went to the city/forest 12 times”
“Finnish kids are very independent, my year ones simply pull out their cell phones at midday and go home or to city activities”
“Trust is a very big thing in Finnish Culture…our whole educational system is built on trust”
“You can see trust in the way we are treated as teachers, we don’t really have to report to anyone about what we do”
“The Government trusts the Principals and the Principals trust the teachers and the teachers trusts the students..it is part of our culture”
“At least once a week I now find myself bringing some work home to do”
“During Covid we were just told to focus on essentials with our kids”
“Nationwide testing is used for more research investigations not for ranking schools”
“re Behaviour Management – we can always talk with them, we don’t punish – we just talk – we appear to be more empathetic”
“It is not necessarily about academic we want them to learn life skills and other competencies for their future”
“We include the kids in the decision making – this helps behaviour management”
“Important key features of a Finnish teacher include COLLABORATION, willingness to learn new things and don’t stop learning”
One message from Finland Educational System for other education systems – choosing one thing is not easy – there are no tricks – A lot of the things which are good about our schooling system is built into our CULTURE – Trust, Equality etc…..this is the System of our Society not just the educational system.
