How to improve wisdom?

One of the most important chapters of Finnish basic education curriculum is titled: Thinking and learning to learn (First of the seven transversal competences) Edvard de Bono writes in his book Textbook of Wisdom (Viking, 1996): “Wisdom is not all the same as cleverness. I have known many people who are very clever indeed within…

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It has to be Utopia…

When me and my colleague Elina were interviewed by Sunday Times of Malta – believe me, that isn’t the most typical work assignment for us… 😉 the interviewer told us that she had heard comments from the participants of our workshop saying “The Finnish Education sounds so good, it has to be Utopia…”. Same kind of feedback…

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Ideas born in international winds

This year I have been privileged in many occasions to talk with people from many different countries. First at Lapland International Forum for Education (LIFE2017) in Rovaniemi, where we also had a workshop on Pedagogical Leadership – Empowering School Community. Last few days I have had pleasure to be part of Symposium of Turkish Private…

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The Pedagogy Strikes Back

Transversal Competences – maybe the most important part of Finnish Curriculum reform ”Transversal competence refers to an entity consisting of knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and will. Competence also means an ability to apply knowledge and skills in a given situation. The manner in which the pupils will use their knowledge and skills is influenced by…

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Science for Kids!

The new Finnish Core Curriculum emphasizes developing of thinking skills and learning through investigating real life phenomena. Good example of this were the Science Days held in Tampere-talo on Saturday. There was special program for children aged 7-10 years. Robots, planetarium, hands-on workshops and lot’s of fun discoveries! Available for everyone free of charge.  

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The World’s Biggest Parents’ Meeting

”The World’s Biggest Parents’ Meeting” was organized last night, when over 20 000 parents gathered at the same time in 160 schools around Finland. The idea was to tell parents about the several inspiring things that are done in schools around the country and engage parents in developing the education. Johanna Järvinen-Taubert from Learning Scoop…

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Sustainability is the new Black

Sustainable Development Goals – does it ring a bell? If you’re a development worker, campaigner or a hard-core follower of international affairs this might not be news to you. Most of the world hasn’t got a clue. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seem like a continuation of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In reality,…

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Older but Golder!

Finland is celebrating 100th anniversary in 2017 Finland became an independent state on 6th of December in 1917. Despite of hard times (civil war 1918, Word War II in 1939-44) the Finns have built this nation successful by making decisions together. Now we are steering the country to the new century with pride and courage.…

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Latest PISA results – Finnish response

OECD announced its latest PISA results few weeks ago. PISA is among the many international rankings, in which Finland has received excellent results, so naturally the latest results are of big interest both in Finland and in other countries. PISA assesses the learning outcome of students aged 15 in mathematics, science and reading literacy in…

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