Stepping out to the Real World

Schools are not closed environments. More and more co-operation with the local communities is taking place.

The major form of co-operation between the schools, the private sector, and other working communities is on-the-job learning. All three-year vocational study programs include minimum of 20 study weeks of on-the-job learning.

Other forms of co-operation can include at least:

• final thesis provided to the local organisations 
• student projects for the local organisations 
• teachers' work life experiences 
• curriculum work with the local community 

It is important for a teacher to know what is going on in the "real" work life. It is rather difficult to teach for example customer service if you have not done it ever or updated your knowledge recently. Therefore it is highly recommended to go on a work experience for couple of months, and learn the latest on the field. This will help a teacher to plan courses and lessons, and it will give a teacher many real-life examples to be shared with the students.

A teacher should also be well networked. It is important to co-operate with the colleagues, but also with the local organisations. A teacher with good networks can find visiting lectures and enrich teaching with different kind of collaborative tasks efficiently.

Some students may also need help with finding on-the-job learning placements, and that is when teacher's good networks help a lot. I would imagine that working closely with the real world keeps teaching more interesting and richer.

We were asked to think with whom and how we interact. I interact with many people during the day, mainly with other staff members and students. We usually speak face to face, send emails or phone to each others. Sometimes I also interact with schools abroad or different institutes/organisations in Finland. That takes place usually on phone or via email.

I think face to face is the most effective way to interact. Then you can see the non-verbal communication, too. Phone is quicker than email. Sometimes it is anyway better to use email: you may need evidence on what has been discussed, it is easier to understand the other person in written, or you want to send the same information to many people at the same time.

In the UK schools interact a lot with the local communities. They may not interact as much with the local companies as we do since on-the-job learning is not mandatory there, but they organise events like Christmas parties for the local care homes. I think we could do that kind of "voluntary work" more often in Finland, too. That would increase social sustainability!

All in all, a teacher needs to create and maintain good networks. By doing so the teacher will be able to give more to his/her students, and stay motivated.