Nine years of teaching and learning in the heart of Europe

Cherry trees and tulips blossom in all colors now in Brussels. I miss this international and bohemian city. I also miss the location, it was so easy and fast to travel to other European cities at weekends. I worked nine years as a class teacher in the European School in Brussels, seconded by the Finnish…

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Outdoor schooling for better learning results

Children who grow up with greener surroundings have up to 55 percent less risk of developing various mental disorders later in life. This is shown by a new study from Aarhus University, Denmark, emphasizing the need for designing green and healthy environments for the future. There is increasing evidence that the natural environment plays a larger role for mental health than previously thought. About…

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Why do we need Phenomenon-based Learning?

”Finland Will Become The First Country In The World To Get Rid Of All School Subjects!” I look at the headline in international magazine and think: ”Oh, really?” I glance at the current Finnish National Core Curriculum for Finnish Basic Education on my table and think, what are all the 16 different school subjects presented…

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Learning Scoop goes Latin America

Learning Scoop is happy to start collaboration with SISU Educación & Bienestar in Bolivia, Latin America. The first online courses are taking place yesterday and today covering themes “How to keep the student´s interest at class” and “Teaching and learning methodologies to develop the kids´ potential in class.” Our wonderful experts Johanna Järvinen-Taubert and Satu Herrala are delivering the sessions from Tampere,…

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Verso – a peer mediation program for children

“Mom, I’ve requested a Verso meeting!” My 10 year old daughter’s announcement surprised me. I knew she had suffered from a complicated situation with a couple of her classmates, but didn’t know she had decided to find a solution to it through peer mediation program Verso. Verso is a peer mediation program, where trained, a…

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How can we help teachers to act as innovators, part 2/3: Autonomy

Finnish education is world-famous for its high quality and Finnish teachers are known to constantly develop the education. This continuous development has brought Finland excellent results: Why are Finnish teachers so development-oriented? We tackle this question in three consecutive blog posts. Understanding Finnish education requires the comprehension of few basic principles. These principles also guarantee…

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How can we help teachers to act as innovators, part 1/3: Trust

Teachers are often expected to act as innovators in the society. Education is of vital importance for the development of society and teachers are awaited to promote that development by new and innovative solutions in education. Finnish education is world-famous for its high quality and Finnish teachers are known to constantly develop the education. This…

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Simultaneous teaching

Working as a teacher can be a lonely job. Even though you have colleagues: you have common coffee breaks with them, plan your lessons together, have dialogues and even assess together outside the classroom — nevertheless, a teacher is alone in classroom. One class, and only one teacher. If we are lucky, we have a…

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Once upon a time in Thailand…

When it is pitch dark in Finland, it is lovely to travel to the sunnier side of the world. Our experts had an opportunity to train teachers and faculty staff of Didyasarin International Preparatory School in Bangkok, Thailand few weeks ago. It was wonderful to meet our study tour participants Lady and Tor again and…

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