Innovative Teaching in Finland

• In Event: Innovative Teaching and Learning Research: Global and National Results

Abstract

Finnish schools and their teachers are well-known for their high quality academic training and advanced pedagogical skills. The success of Finnish schooling is based on long traditions which have resulted in good achievements in international comparisons. In addition, teachers’ grounding in pedagogies and educational research should create a good foundation for the introduction of student-centered pedagogies and development of 21st century skills.

But this success is also a limitation, because good results have been achieved with unchanged pedagogical methods that are based on sustainable classroom management practice rather than students’ needs for the changing world. Finnish schools lack a proper strategy for 21st century learning in schools and have fallen behind other western countries in using technology in classrooms and learning. Development strategies mainly focus on increasing technology in schools, rather than encouraging teachers to use technology in the context of more transformative pedagogies as called for by the ITL Research program.

This paper will describe results of ITL Research in its first two years in Finland, both in researching the progress of innovative teaching and in helping to promote policy-level discourse and teacher-level pedagogical change.

ITL data collection in Finland included a mapping of individual teaching practices in approximately 50 schools, half nominated as innovative and half for comparison. Case studies were conducted in three innovative schools, and learning activities and student works collected in six.

Findings indicate that Finnish schools have a strong foundation of constructivist pedagogy, with focus on student-centered practices and collaboration. There is also technology available in schools, even though most of the use is done by teachers or students with traditional ways. Most innovative practices in schools are on the shoulders of individual teachers, and are not always shared within schools through collaborative practices or disseminated nationally for everyone to see.

Based on ITL results in Finland, innovative schools have managed to combine strong traditions with modern technology and student-centeredness. To do that, schools have created a shared professional culture and defined common values. Schools define their path, in which every teacher must walk with their own pace. To be successful in developing opportunities for 21st century learning, schools must support their teachers’ collaborative practices and sharing of knowledge.

This project has been used both to promote public and policy dialogue about innovative teaching and to build capacity for new pedagogies within schools. ITL results have been part of the discourse in current efforts to create a national strategy for ICT use in schools, which is currently lacking in the national core curriculum. These presentations and discussions are promoting a plan that focuses not only on increasing the number of devices in schools but also on developing 21st century learning. In addition, ITL schools have received training in 21st century teaching and learning and pedagogical support from pre-service teachers in experiments that were carried out initially in 2010 and will be expanded to a larger scale in 2011 and 2012. The paper will describe results that have helped individual schools to develop their practices.

Authors

• Juho Matti Norrena, University of Jyväskylä

• Marja Kankaanranta, University of Jyväskylä

• Arto Kalevi Ahonen, University of Jyväskylä