Intervju s Satu Raitala

Bi radi oblikovali projekt eTwinning s finsko šolo? O tem, kako poteka eTwinning na Finskem, smo se nedavno pogovarjali z Satu Raitala, koordinatorko akcije eTwinning na Finskem.

1. How does education in Finland differ from other countries in Europe?

Finnish schools follow a national core curriculum that determines the framework for local curricula, usually done at municipal level. Schools can also offer extra-curricular subjects as main subjects and thus specialise in languages, music, etc. The new core curriculum includes a new emphasis on cross-curricular themes in education that are to be implemented in core and/or optional subjects. The cross-curricular themes in Basic Education are: Growth as a person; Cultural identity and internationalism; Media skills and communication; Participatory citizenship and entrepreneurship; Responsibility for the environment, well-being and a sustainable future; Safety and traffic; and Technology and the individual.

2. How is ICT being implemented in Finland?

All schools must have a plan for the integration of ICT into teaching, and be able to prove how this plan is being implemented. This initiative has been put in place to encourage teachers to learn more about ICT and start using various tools. The national core curriculum states that the chosen methods must create a desire to learn and support learning through interaction between pupils, which encourages teachers to start taking advantage of “new” technologies. In this respect, the Finnish National Board of Education also offers courses for further professional development and accepts applications yearly to support and fund different ICT projects in schools. The Finnish Ministry of Education has launched a programme called OPE.FI in order to improve the ICT skills of in-service teachers and teaching personnel. In addition, NBE has released different teaching materials to support the project. It is distributed free via Internet for all participating individuals.

A three-year long virtual school project has just ended with extremely positive results and good practices which will be disseminated across the country. The project has proven that there is a will to use ICT in education and therefore the Board of Education is currently contacting schools for a new project in ePedagogy.

3. How has eTwinning impacted your country? How are schools and teachers responding to it?

Schools are very keen on the idea of becoming involved in international cooperation. Since the eTwinning Action began in 2004, Finland has been an active member. Today nearly half of registered Finnish schools are involved in a project. eTwinning is monitored by the National Board of Education that supports curricular development in Finland, and therefore Finnish schools can have pedagogical support for their projects. There is also a pedagogical team supporting the Finnish eTwinning National Support Service (NSS).

Finnish schools have been very successful in European competitions and their teachers have helped the NSS to disseminate information on the Action. Having enthusiastic teachers to present their work encourages other teachers to register and start a project. Also, teacher training organisations and local authorities have shown an interest in eTwinning, and so the NSS is working closely together with them.

4. What kind of projects are Finnish schools most often interested in?

Finnish teachers are always interested in language related projects; the most common second language is English but French, German and Russian are also widely studied. As Finland is a bilingual country with a small minority of Swedish speakers, in general, the attitude towards learning languages is quite positive.

Because of the national curriculum, different cross-curricular projects about European traditions, tolerance, democracy and also sustainable development have been popular.

CLIL teaching (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is becoming more common in Finland because of new international actors and so there is a real interest in working with native speakers for language-related partnerships.

5. Are there special eTwinning activities going on in Finland?

The two biggest training seasons in Finland take place in September and February. Having received excellent feedback from September’s workshop, the NSS is organising another round this month. A European Professional Development Workshop will be organised in Finland in April, accommodating nearly 80 European teachers focusing on vocational education. In addition, the NSS will be working closely together with CIMO (the Center for International Mobility) and also with organisations offering training for further professional development for teachers (there will be short training sessions for teachers on this in April).

Finland will present their new eTwinning ambassadors at the eTwinning Conference 2007 at the end of February.

6. Do you have any advice for teachers who are interested in twinning up with schools in Finland?

Due to the results of PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment), the Finnish educational system has been in the news recently: Finnish teachers are eager to commit themselves to European projects to share their expertise with colleagues and get new ideas.

The focus on national ICT policy in the education sector has shifted from providing the technical infrastructure and basic ICT skills to supporting the provision and availability of high-quality digital learning resources and promoting more advanced skills in ICT pedagogy. Thus, eTwinning is seen as a good means to implement the national and regional curricula. Teachers have a relative freedom when choosing different ways of implementing ICT into their course work which allows them to more easily start up a project.

Finally, it is good to remember that the Finnish school year starts already in the beginning of August and finishes by the second week of June.

Are you interested in getting involved in an eTwinning project with a school in Finland?

Learn more about Finland by having a look at information on its national school structure and eTwinning projects.