A Week in Athens

I took part in an European Project Officer course in Greece in January 2014. Here's a link to my travel / course diary, which is in Finnish.

Integrating New Students into a School - A Start-up Day

A short description of the day

I was asked to take part in Amok's start-up day for new students at the beginning of the summer. My role was to share my experiences of studying on the course with the new students, and give them some tips about how to complete the studies successfully. There were also three other former students telling their stories. We all came from slightly different backgrounds and studying strategies, and therefore we all had something special to distribute. I mainly concentrated on encouraging the new students to complete part of their studies abroad.

The event was held partly in classrooms and partly in a big hall, where they had built big tents and a Laplander's hut (tepee) for carrying out workshops. The former students were located in one of the tents. There were other people giving out information concerning the studies in the other stuctures, too. The idea was that the new students would visit all the workshops in their study groups. One visit always lasted for 10 minutes.

At the beginning of each visit we had just over a minute per former student to briefly tell about our experiences. Or that was the plan at least. Very soon we found out that we were talking too much and there was not enough time left for discussion.

After the fifth group or so it started to feel that I was just repeating myself. I had to remind myself that the audience was different every time. We had over ten groups visiting us so the day was rather hectic. I personally think that there could have been more breaks between the groups. However, after the event we had a lovely buffet waiting for us. It was nice to exchange some thoughts with the other former students and staff members. I found the atmosphere very relaxed and supportive - Amok must be a really nice place to work.

How I found the day

All in all I found the day very useful. I wish we had have such a day at the beginning of the studies. The new students were interested in hearing our experiences and I hope they got some good tips that will make their studies not just easier but also more efficient. I have always emphasised the importance of international knowledge. It was great to see that in each group there was one or two students showing interest in doing training or some courses abroad. It would be great to hear if there are more students actually going this academic year!

The problem with such start-up days is the amount of information. There is no way one can remember everything the following week. Maybe providing the students with contact information (at least web addresses to our e-portfolios) and photos of the former students would be useful. At least I would be more than happy to reply to some questions afterwards, too (as long as it does not become a daily task).

Organising a start-up day in such a way

I think the start-up day was successful. First of all it was probably a good way to do team-building. In a classroom setting it is difficult to talk with anyone else than the one next to you. Once the whole group is walking around chatting with others become easier. Getting out from a classroom makes learning also more fun which - in my opinion - also provides a better learning outcome. It was also a good way to introduce the new students with such an approach - they are after all the future teachers.

The students had been given some questions they had to find answers to. I am not sure they always remembered to ask those questions though. And if they did, how well do they still remember them? It maybe a good idea to provide each group now with the answers by posting them on Optima (and why not also names and links where to find more information).

All in all I think Amok has improved the start-up day since I started my studies. Yet I think it would be good to have the iVet group taking part in it next time. I am sure they could have the very same workshops in English. This would make them see the big picture and also meet other teachers whose optional studies they will anyway take.

Adopting the approach in my teaching

I think the day was a great learning opportunity for me as well. I got some ideas how to use the very approach in my teaching. So far I have come up with three different situations where I could use it. I think the beauty of the approach is that it can be used in various situations, environments and groups of people. I personally think that learning should be made fun: it increases students' involvement and school attendance. Changing the approach to learning in the classroom setting or having a totally different learning environment is always refreshing. Next I will discuss briefly the three situations where I could use the very approach.

1. Team-building day for my new students

If I was to organise a team-building day for my new students I would divide them in small groups in which they could visit different workshops. I would have workshops run by a student counsellor, a school secretary, a tutoring teacher, a co-ordinator of international affairs and tutoring students. In each workshop they would have some tasks to complete. This way the new students would get to know the personnel and other students. They would also learn more about the school than just by listening some mass lectures. I think this would be a great way to integrate the new students as well as do team-building. It is important to make the new students to feel welcome in order to decrease the amount of dropouts among the vocational students.

2. Introducing the optional studies for the students

In the college I work, we have a day when all the optional courses are introduced by the teachers. I think the day could be organised with this approach as well. In addition to the teachers, the third year students who have already taken the courses could also be there sharing their experiences.

3. Presenting the outcomes of group works

I like students doing small researches in groups of three or four. However, they are a bit bored with presenting the outcomes always in the same way (Powerpoint presentations in front of the classroom). I think I will ask them to prepare something different next time. I cannot build up any tents or tepees in our sport hall but surely we can have some presentations outdoors and use our building in a more innovative way than normally. I would like to see if this would make them to prepare their presentations with more enthusiasm. I would expect the audience to show more interest in the presentations too. This would obviously increase learning: they would not just learn the content but also different ways to give presentations.

A Dream Coming True?

A month back I made myself a treasure map in order to visualize my future dreams. In the centre of my map I had a picture of an African girl without education. I have always wanted to do voluntary work but had not quite known how. I do not think I would ever do it through the church -I have an etchical conflict wih the idea of exporting religion. Anyhow, I have now figured out what I want to do: I want to educate children that may not have an access to education otherwise.

In order to achieve my goal, I was planning to take this course. I have applied to it already once, and even got an invitation to an interview. Unfortunatelly - or fortunatelly - I was not selected then, but I am now more confident about my competences in studying in the programme. Now it is time to focus on other things in life though, but I will most likely apply on this course still one day! It would also give me the possibility to do research in the future.

So earlier I thought that I need to complete the Master's Degree Programme before doing voluntary work. But yesterday I found out that one of my studying friends has founded a vocational school in Uganda, and they are more than happy to receive voluntary teachers. I think I will take my family over there one summer, and see how I can help my friend and the local children.

Closing Seminar

Day 1

We are having the last contact days as a whole group, and it is time to reflect our learning during the last 12 months.

We started the day by choosing two postcards that describe us as vocational teachers now and in the future. For me the year has been challenging. Combining two courses, children and marriage, and feeling quilty for not doing any of them well enough, has been hard. Also a serious illness in the family has affected our life.  But here I am, almost at the finish line! Now it is time to relax and spend time with my family. Therefore I chose a nice picture of a parent playing ball with a little boy. That is me for the next couple of months. I will be baking cakes on a sandpit! Anyhow, I will return to work in August. My second picture, a hunting bird, illustrates the next step I will take as a vocational teacher. It is time to start looking for a teaching position soon!

For me the iVet course has given mainly new teaching tools and technology. I have met great poeple and made contacts. I hope we will continue learning together even after the course! I had a great possibility to do my teacher training abroad and experience different school system. My MBA studies will be finished soon, too. They have helped me to gain more pedagogical competence; I understand the world of vocational students better now, and can recognise the factors that put a student at risk for dropping out from school.

I got nice feedback on my pedagogical method of motivating students to take part in a discussion task during the VOCII course. I think VOCII gave me a great opportunity to try teaching in an online environment which is not used for teaching that often (Facebook). I think Facebook is a great tool for sharing ideas and learning together when you want the students to contribute daily for a short period of time. Obviously it requires that the students are willing to register in Facebook. Also Facebook has got its limitations: quite soon the Facebook page starts looking messy, and some content may get missing or finding it is difficult. I would also ask the students to document their learning in another platform due to the limitations of Facebook.

Today we were also practising evaluating ourselves. It was rather difficult! I shall think about my competences in vocational education more later on. I think this blog is a good starting point for documenting my competence.

Anyhow, it is time to go and pick up my children from the nursery. Later tonight we will gather around to one of our fellow students' house and have a barbeque. Time for a party!

Day 2

So it is the very last day, or actually the very last hour together as a STUDY group. It has been a discovery journey like one of us described the last year yesterday. I think I have gained a lot of competence in vocational pedagocy, but there is still areas where I have to develop myself, special needs education f.ex. But I am definately ready to start working as a teacher. As I stated in one of the first posts, I think a teacher is never ready. There is always something to learn. You have to be a life-long learner in order to expect that from your students.

Finally Summer!

We've got finally summer also here in Northern Finland! 

It's soon time to start a summer holiday! But first I'll attend the 'Closing seminar days' of iVet. I'm going to miss all my studying friends! Thanks guys for the great year!!

Then one more optional course (Managing People). I'll leave one optional course (Drama in teaching) for autumn. I'm looking forward to that course!  I've also promised to meet the new students and tell them about my experiences of doing teacher training abroad.  Hopefully some of them will take the challenge, too. Here's a link to an article concerning my practice by the way.

I've been mainly concentrating on my final thesis recently. I had my second seminar the other day. Still a lot to do, but I'm still planning to graduate from my MBA studies in August. Soon I can put my feet up and plan what to do in my garden this summer! It's time to start writing my gardening blog again.

Have a great summer!

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.

Special Needs Education

In Finland everyone has got the right for education. In my opinion this is very important and makes a difference in one’s life. 

Each education provider is responsible for organising special needs education and training and services for students in special needs education and training. The aim is to ensure educational equality and equal educational services to everyone. (The Finnish National Board of Education, 2012.)

In vocational education and training, students with special needs have several possibilities to undertake their studies. They are integrated in the mainstream education if possible. If one is not capable to follow the "ordinary" educational path, there are many alternative ways to be educated. The students may be:

• studying in special needs groups
• studying in vocational special education institutions
• or learning through apprenticeship training. (The Finnish National Board of Education, 2012.)

The starting point, when planning special needs education, should be the student. What is good for this individual? What are his or her personal targets? How can we support him/her to achieve those goals? Does he/she need any other forms of professional help?

Each student in need of special education and training will have an individual education plan (IEP) drawn up. The plan follows the student through his/her education. The plan set out details of:

• the qualification
• the national core curriculum or the requirements of the competence-based qualification observed in education and training
• the individual curriculum
• grounds for providing special needs education and training
• special educational and student welfare services, as well as other services and support measures provided for the student. (The Finnish National Board of Education, 2012.)

My Experiences

Previously I have had students with learning difficulties, hearing disabilities, mental problems and students who have needed an assistant for moving around in the premises. There may have been many other special needs, too, which I have not been aware of. It is up to the student to decide how openly he/she is happy to talk about the special needs. 

I personally think that openness would be good in order to get all the possible support from each staff member. But I can understand that some students do not want to share their personal issues with each teacher.

Some of our special needs students apply through the related flexible application procedure. We decide who we invite for an entry exam or interview. We also offer the study places to those students. Sometimes special needs students may apply through the ordinary procedure. The need for special help may arise only once the school has started.

I am assuming different kind of mental problems play the biggest role in many vocational schools in Finland. Therefore it is great that we have a new law stating that each vocational school should have a psychologist.

I have had a chance to make a short questionnaire for local companies concerning their attitudes towards special needs students and their on-the-job learning. According to the results, there is still a lot to do to change attitudes. An extended on-the-job learning period could be very helpful for some of the special needs students, but first the businesses should be assured that the students are capable to carry it out.

References

The Finnish National Board of Education. (2012) "Special Needs Education." Retrieved March 17, 2013 from http://www.oph.fi/english/education/educational_support_and_student_wellbeing/special_needs_education