Siltamäki: People-based learning

I’ve heard once from a Canadian educator, Claire Taillefer (an educational developer from Maple Bear Global Schools  - whom I really appreciate): “You teach kids, not a curriculum”. Considering that “no one educates anyone, no one educates himself alone. People educate each other, mediated by the world (Paulo Freire)”, I feel inspired by so many great ideas, and think that learning should always be based on people, not curriculum, not lifeless matter.

Siltamäki Primary School: inspiring educational innovation

Students in the Music Class

Two months ago an online rumor came up stating that schools in Finland had ditched subjects and replaced them with topics. A particular school was mentioned as an example of this educational reform in Finland – Siltamäki Primary School in Helsinki. A few days later, more news emerged, contradicting the first one.

In Brazil, as in many countries, we’ve been trying to improve our educational system. I felt myself very instigated to go to Siltamäki school and check it under my Brazilian educator perception. Although the news was somehow contested and not everything was totally accurate, I thought something special had been found there and I wondered what that was about. 

There’s no need to ditch school subjects when there’s integration

No subjects scrapped yet, instead, subjects have been integrated in several ways. Surely, Siltamäki is an innovative school model, as its team has been developing its own way of working. It’s not only about replicating things; it’s about recreating their own beautiful poems and songs enthusiastically, and I mean it literally.

Integrating subjects, using student-centered methodologies or project-based learning approach - none of those are mandatory; even though teachers are inspired to do that. They really do work collaboratively. 
Learning is based on people, not in things, but based on the collaborative nature people have.

Distributed leadership & identity strengthening

What I truly believe is that leadership is the heart of that school and what brings successful results. And I don’t mean leadership only as formal leaders, but mainly as “distributed leadership”. There’s no lonely shining star; everyone shines – students and teachers. Everyone is engaged. 

School principal Anna-Mari Jaatinen

From my point of view, that makes all the difference. Anna-Mari Jaatinen, the school leader, presented their (not her) school passionately, and soon conducted the visitors to observe her leader team with hands on the job. They were excited about that, proud to share so many things they’ve been doing. And, do you really think they’re doing something too complicated and so innovative you can’t imagine? Not really, they’re just doing their best with already existing resources and ideas. However, they’ve been printing their identity in everything they do. 

Collaborating is innovating!

A great example of identity building is the fact that the school community made their own song. The song creation process was carried out collaboratively. Students and teachers could create their song using traditional and more technological resources. Everything then was combined, organized and the school’s own song came up. It strongly composes its identity and way of doing education. The music project is continuous; every year new groups have activities and can expand some actions which have been in course (take a look at the Magic Forest Project video below).

I could write so many good things I saw in Siltamäki, a rather small lower-elementary school (grades 1 to 6) with around 240 students, 17 teachers and 7 school assistants… but I’ll highlight some topics I think make the school successful.

What makes Siltamäki successful?  

• Distributed leadership empowers school community and inspires people to collaborate.
• There’s a Professional Learning Community and the time they have is used effectively. School-team meets every week and that moment is already a collaborative work, not only informative as traditional teachers’ meetings usually are.
• Teachers and students are proud of what they do.
• Teachers work collaboratively integrating subjects, projects and actions.
• Students are taught to work collaboratively as well. In some projects, older students help younger ones to develop their task, as for example to make short videos.

• Collaboration can be seen and felt in every school chart, door, song, teacher’s speech etc. We can see and feel a symbiotic process going on.
• The school holistic-oriented culture combines integration of co-operation, collaboration, co-creativity and educational technology – the whole school community sometimes has a common project, for instance a phenomena-based learning project or a collaborative music project (in which the whole school is engaged in composing a single song for their school). Projects may last for years, as they can be expanded from one year to another.
• School-team is focused on developing essential 21st century skills.

• Teachers use educational technologies to enhance learning effectiveness.
• Children feel safe. That’s the basis. Then they can learn efficiently.
• Different and modern learning environments: music studio, no-stress room. School is engaged now in implementing the “Future Classroom” (a high-tech classroom). 

•  Ubiquitous learning – students are motivated to take every chance to learn more, in many situations, everywhere. 

• Parental engagement - school makes an effort to bring parents closer by promoting not only meetings but a variety of activities.  

 Check out some videos the school produced!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NElHknsmeL8 (Joyful learning – school presentation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxWHEddgSgM (Magic Forest Musical - Project)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io3g4lA6W78 (Robotics)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUd8TrcoAfg (Kids singing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4cyFsgJy3Y (Robotalk – students speaking English)

The following video was produced by Diego Lieban (a friend from the VET Teachers group II who is here in Finland) and me! He is a math teacher and he was the one who selected the pictures. Check his perpective!

Visiting Valkeakoski Campus

Hi everyone! 

In this post, I’ll share some experience I had visiting Valkeakoski campus. 

HAMK University of Applied Science has 7 campuses, they are: Evo, Hämeenlinna, Lepaa, Mustiala, Forssa, Riihimäki and Valkeakoski. The VET Teachers who are in HAMK are living and studying in Hämeenlinna campus.

 

Valkeakoski is a town about 30 minutes’ drive from Hämeenlinna, in the southern part of Finland.

Besides Hamk University, we also visited a Valkeakoski Vocational School and Valkeakoski High School there; all of them compose a large campus area, as they are pretty close one another, and share programs, courses, disciplines and physical structure. 

Watch the introductory video: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeqHa5lIG3Q 


HAMK University of Applied Science - Valkeakoski Campus

Valkeakoski campus offers three bachelor degree courses; they are Automation Engineering, International Business (in English) and Electrical and Automation Engineering (in Finish). I’ll highlight some topics that somehow caught my attention:

• The campus offers some international programs in English. Even Finns sometimes attend the program in English. 

• HAMK and the other educational institutions share some courses. Students can have triple programs; they study in 3 institutions at the same time. For instance, a high school student can concomitantly take a Vocational Course and also study some disciplines at the university through the Open University System. Of course, that is a big challenge for a student, but it’s possible. 

•  There are some companies and entrepreneurs using the University facilities. They pay a membership fee and in return they can benefit from students working in their projects, pilot some ideas, offer some training courses etc. ; some even hire students for a part-time job. On the other hand, students can develop actual work life skills and live real entrepreneurial experiences.

 
Valkeakoski Upper Secondary School The compulsory education in Finland comprehends up to Grade 9, called secondary school. After that, students may choose to study Upper secondary school, which is equivalent to secondary school in Brazil, or may take Vocational education or even both concomitantly. 

 

Furthermore, it is also possible for the student who is taking upper secondary school, also take some disciplines in a University of Applied Science through the Open University system.

Valkeakoski Upper Secondary School has a large, bright and functional physical structure which attends all dimensions of learning. Students can get together in different spaces, such as cafeteria, theather, labs, meetings rooms, classrooms etc.

The school takes an acronym - PISA - as its main values, which is for Passion, Involvement, Sociability and Agency. 

All classes are recorded and transmited by Moodle. So, a student who is not there in medical leave, for instance, is able to attend class, or else someone who wants to review class can also take advantage of that practice.

Valkeakoski Vocational School Valkeakoski Vocational Institute offers education focusing on the needs of the economic life in the region. The four sectors of courses offered are: Technology

and Transport; Tourism, Catering and Home Economics; Health and Social Services and Business and Administration. The avarage time each one lasts is 3 years and basic studies, such as such as Mathematics, Finnish, Swedish, English, Civics, Chemistry, Physics, ADP, Arts and Culture and Sports are included in the programme.

We had a presentation from the International Business Course.

Some highlighted topics:

• The course is organized in projects as opposed to disciplines. Students can develop many projects at the same time.  

•  Students are prepared to be independent, entrepreneur and autonomous in relation to their own studies. Therefore, skills needed not only for their
  
  work specifically, but for their own life, are developed as they study.

• Students can make choices, they choose their projects, plan their self-study program, and develop their own ideas. So the learning process is personalized, as they are surveyed about their interests, their needs and learning objectives.
• Students learn work life skills and practice them as much as they can. That happens when they present some project ideas to the market (which may sponsor their projects if they can get any benefit from them) – they organize fairs, create marketing campaign, sell solutions, create products and services etc. They are responsible for the whole process, from the beginning to the delivery of the product/service and the post-project satisfaction survey, thus they experience real work life. 

• The teacher is not someone who tells the student what to do, but instead, guides and coaches. 

• Competence-based assessment.
• The assessment is carried out through the Vocational Skills Demonstration. Students work in real companies and are assessed in real situations.
• The assessment instruments and processes are mainly: a lot of different kinds of self-assessment, digital learning diary, hands-on activities, rubrics (skills required) etc.

 More information click on: http://www.valkeakoskicampus.fi/en/
 

Towards Teacher Development: Peer-Group Mentoring

Hi everyone!

In this post, I intend to share an experience I had attending a Peer-Group Mentoring session, at Kiipula (a Vocational school), led by Riikka Michelsson.

First of all, let me introduce briefly the concept of Peer-Group Mentoring – PMG.

“Peer-group Mentoring is a new model of supporting professional development. It can be organized among a variety of professions but here we focus on teachers. […] (PMG) is an activity involving teachers sharing and reflecting on their experiences, discussing problems and challenges they meet in their work, listening, encouraging one another, and, above all, learning from each other, and learning together (HEIKKINEN JOKINEN and TYNJALA, 2012, p. xv)”.

The group session  I attended usually happens once a month. I was lucky I had met Sanna Ruhalahti, the person who made all the contact so that I had the chance to join it and, besides that, gave me the book I’ve been reading recently.

When I arrived, I was warmly welcomed by Riikka. She was preparing coffee and said that was an important kind of “ritual” to open the session. As a coffee-addicted, I totally agree that is a great way to warm-up conversations and boost Professional Development!

She organized everything so neatly. We had a quick chat before the meeting; Riikka shared some important historical and operational aspects of this PGM project called Osaava Opelix, which is a project funded by the Finland Education Ministry and aims to support teacher and school community development.

Through PGM sessions, educators not only find support for their professional challenges through the discussion and group construction/negotiation of some coping strategies, but most of all, they advance their skills, build network, share good practices and enhance their knowledge. Thus, a sustainable professional development comes about and everybody’s knowledge and experience are taken into account.

Riikka said it has started with an attempt of retaining young teachers in schools, as a lot were quitting their jobs during the first year; probably because of lack of guidance and support.

Coffee was ready, and along with it a set table with some goodies, beverages and finger food. The way Riikka took care of everything, so carefully, surely caught my attention. It was not only about a job, it was about people, receiving them warmly and giving them/taking from them the best with open heart.

The group was welcomed by the door. Everyone helped themselves, grabbed their coffee and joined the table. A quick conversation went on.

The session began with the use of dialogical tickets (Dialogical Method – developed by Helena Aarnio). The aim is to assure dialogue happens symmetrically.

Each one received the same amount of tickets, in this case five. Summarizing, this is how it works: each ticket gives the person the chance to talk. Each one uses a ticket a time, after everyone had their turn. That allows symmetry in conversation, as everybody has their chance to speak and be listened.

Sometimes, one can get excited with the conversation and forget about the cards. The group then makes the person remember and somehow that also becomes a fun, pleasant time.

Facilitator is always present, mediating and assisting dialogue. With good use of communication strategies, the group members are able to conduct themselves symmetrically and respectfully.

After that, an open conversation went on. No one held the conversation for so long. They talked, they laughed and they came up to many levels of work life and their own life, not only about challenges, but about positive things and how to help students to develop important skills for the 21st century.

The session took a little more than two hours. People were there talking, having coffee and surely growing together. The PMG project has been designed in such a way that it provides practice-oriented Professional Development; on-the-job learning. Educators’ knowledge is explored and valued.

What amazed me most was becoming aware of the fact that this kind of project is supported by the Education Ministry, even being provided for small groups (4-10 members in each). Quality is the focus, not quantity. The fund is decentralized and administrated by the mentor himself/herself. Trust is the basis of all relations and we can see that through small attitudes, everywhere.