28.06.2016, Johanna Järvinen-Taubert

The Miracle of Finnish Education – how do we do it?

Our pride and joy – Teacher Academy Finland (TAF) – is ready to reveal the secret of the Finnish Education. The curriculum of TAF is just finished and we are excited about it!

The aim of Teacher Academy Finland is to showcase the principles behind the educational system and basic education in Finland. In order to do that we had to decide what are the key elements of the Finnish Education Success Story. What makes the Finnish basic education so special that it has been ranked one of the best in the world in all the education rankings for over 15 years now?

Designing the curriculum for Teacher Academy Finland was one of the most fascinating assignments that I have had during my professional career. I have worked as the teacher trainer in the Finnish Universities before. Yet this time me and my colleagues had the opportunity to plan the curriculum covering the key factors of the Finnish basic education without the pre-set conditions.

There are many often mentioned factors for Finnish educational excellence that needed to be included in the curriculum: the highly educated teachers, teacher training, the culture of trust and respect, the meaning of equality, progressive curriculum, the child and learning centered modern pedagogy and teaching methods, the advanced special education, integration and inclusion practices etc. All these key elements mentioned are well covered in the curriculum of the Teacher Academy Finland.

But there are less known areas of expertise we wanted to tell to the teachers of the world as well: the way schools are seen as learning communities, the role of the pedagogical leadership, the diversity of learning environments, the vast co-operation with various institutions outside school, the role of the school-parent co-operation, the advanced learning materials and ICT solutions for learning, highly developed evaluation methods, anti-bullying program etc. We thought all of these topics among several others should be handled in the curriculum as well.

We also thought that the participants of TAF would like to know how the future of education is seen in Finland and where is this educational powerhouse – Finland – heading next. So also the Future of Education is covered in the curriculum, too.

But it is not only the program contents that matter. We wanted the working methods of Teacher Academy Finland to mirror the Finnish educational mindset as well. Each module of TAF includes on-campus learning at the Teacher Academy Finland and shadowing and practice in a Finnish comprehensive schools.

Moreover, we as professional teacher trainers always want to act as we preach. So we are enthusiastic to show the activating, modern and inspiring methods of teaching and learning in Teacher Academy Finland. We want the actualization of TAF to be an inspiration to the participating teachers so that they can learn new methods to carry out in their own teaching at their own schools.

Want to see it yourself? Please do! Learning Scoop proudly presents: the Curriculum of Teacher Academy Finland