Posts Tagged ‘curriculum’
Learning goes forest
Sometimes we are asked “how many forest do you have?” Well, one. A bit exaggerated the whole Finland is actually one big forest with lakes and some houses here and there. Even in cities, forest and nature are normally not that far away. So, it is no wonder that our schools and day-care centres have…
Read MoreTake care of the parents, too
Before our new national core curriculum was put into practice, it took two years from municipalities and schools to get familiar with it, plan and get ready. One part of the work was to share the ideas of the new curriculum with parents and have their ideas as well. Our core curriculum is being given…
Read MoreGeneral Education Study Tour with enthusiastic educationalists
We are having an exciting week going on with our international study tour visitors once again. This time we had a pleasure to have General Education Study Tour participants from Malta, Philippines, USA, Thailand and Hong Kong. During the first day we covered Finnish Education system and training routes and gave a comprehensive introduction to…
Read MoreChina experiences – smiling university educators, peach trees, chicken soup and shining sun
Ni Hau! Between May and June I had a wonderful possibility to deliver two times one-week teacher training program in China with my colleague, Mrs Tiina Koskiranta from Tampere University of Applied Science. First week we had a group of 40 teachers from Railway Polytechnics from city of Guangzhow, Canton. The group was really innovative…
Read MoreOi, tudo bem? A Training experience in Brazil
The Brazilian sun is hot and The Brazilian people are warm. When more than forty Brazilian educators are working in co-operative way, the loud and tension is high. I had a nice possibility to deliver three one-week training sessions for educators in Brazil, one week in Rio de Janeiro, one week in Natal and one…
Read MoreWin with the Finn – greetings from Polar Camp
I had a pleasure to attend Polar Camp last week together with other brilliant minds. There are 29 Finnish organizations involved with Polar Partners network at the moment and we all are committed to deliver Finnish Education Excellence. Instead of staying in a tent we enjoyed the great surroundings of Wuolteen kartano Mansion. During the…
Read MoreFinland’s Core Curriculum: Skills or Knowledge? Or Both?
Last week I was training international education experts from USA, Saudi Arabia, India, New Zealand etc. about Finland’s new core curriculum. In the beginning of the training I asked them: “How many of you have heard that Finland is getting rid of school subjects in the new national curriculum?” Many participants raised their hands. There…
Read MoreTo be independent and capable
Last week we had interesting discussions about the goals of education. During tailor-made Study Tour our guests from Dubai were surprised to see how independently even our small pupils act in dining hall or were studying in a different room without teachers´ constant attention. They were surprised to hear that our pupils walk to school…
Read MoreHow 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…
Read MoreIt 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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