Teacher appreciation! NZ and Aussie Principals in Finland
A group of 20 participants visited Learning Scoop and local schools last week. In collaboration with Tours for Teachers we welcomed the 4th group to Tampere this year, which we are extremely humble and happy about! Principal Study Tour participants from New Zealand and Australia expressed keen interest in the practical day-to-day running of a Finnish school.
At Tesoma Comprehensive School (grades 1-9), the principal received detailed questions about the daily and weekly schedules, the curriculum, staffing, diversity, and inclusion. The tour participants also directly connected with the students while visiting the classrooms and during outdoor recess. The principals were delighted with both the students’ English skills and their willingness to engage in discussions. During the afternoon session, many topics like field trips into the woods without any risk assessments prior to the trips, or the lack of formal teacher evaluations were met with a collective astonishment.
On Tuesday at Kalkunvuori day care center guests were interested in the needs of support, the levels of support and how does the system work. One thing is resources. They noticed that there are plenty of adults per group of children in the day care and pre-primary education. They were also impressed about learning by structured playing and doing. We heard many times how important it is to see what others are doing, see other places and other practices in action. The level of child autonomy is high.
On Wednesday at Rahola school we had an opportunity to explore the variety of special education practices. The group of pupils with intensified need of support welcomed us very warmly and the activities they have done were very impressive. In the music lesson we were even invited to join some traditional Finnish folk dance. It is pretty obvious that systematic integration and considering every pupil as individual are very vital values in the Finnish education system.
Thursday’s lecture was about educational support in Finland. We had lengthy discussions about teachers’ attitudes to provide individual support and if they sometimes feel inadequate in fulfilling everybody’s needs. The group was interested in school’s welfare groups and different roles involved. Sleeping and eating patterns or the lack thereof seem to be challenges in all countries. In the end we talked about the Finnish military service system, too!
In order to learn how to do things “The Finnish way”, high lights of the week included also Finnish Sauna Experience, Finnish Nature Experience and Ice Hockey game! So much fun!
Thank you Seventen Tours for taking such a good care of our customers during the Finnish Nature Experience.
Teacher appreciation!
There were so many takeaways and highlights of the Principal Study Tour but we have tried to summarize some of them:
- Impressed with how much Finn’s value their children – independence at school
- Passion that they saw in Finnish system was inspiring. It was a good reminder that educators in New Zealand also have this, so let´s not forget this!
- Positive pedagogy as a key takeaway
- Look and feel of the schools: ‘they feel relaxed and purposeful – they feel like people are content’
- Trusting the teachers more as they are the experts
- Loved that social system is connected right through so no one is left behind
- Taking back high trust model, word accountability and flipping it to responsibility. Not being afraid of standing up for the teachers and their decisions. Using the land around us more.
- Building the foundation and commitment to the Finnish early education system – not the same in Australia.
- New Zealand educators are doing an incredible job!
- Seems like Finnish people are displaying what is in their hearts
Thank you everyone for your active contribution, deep reflections and talks. We absolutely loved the time with you! Sometimes you have to go far to see close. Thank you Tours for Teachers, Angela and Christine, for bringing such a wonderful group to Finland again!
