JOB SHADOWING IN FINLAND
One of the Erasmus+ accreditation activities is 'job shadowing,' which entails learning about the workings and teaching methods of a foreign institution through class observation and participation. In May 2024, a Finnish primary school in Martinniemi welcomed two of our teachers for this activity. Ms. Barbara Tarnowska-Mazan and Ms. Joanna Wisniewska spent an intensive week learning about the teachers' working methods, observing foreign language and early childhood education lessons with CLIL elements, and experiencing outdoor education firsthand. They also explored the application of the Montessori method in preschool education, where children and teachers collaborated on a year-round STEM project about water in nature. Additionally, the teachers attended a well-being workshop for the entire Finnish school's board of education, held on a forest beach.
The most striking aspects of the Finnish school included:
- Pupils moving around classrooms and corridors in socks,
- Spending every break outside,
- Going fishing in the nearby lake with a teacher as part of their interest group,
- Addressing teachers and the headmaster by their first names,
- Waiting patiently for their meal in the canteen and cleaning up afterwards,
- Being permitted to quietly use a stepper or a rowing machine during lessons when needing to move,
- The absence of sweets at school,
- Cycling to school even in winter,
- Organizing events throughout the school year to fundraise for their school trip (which cannot be paid for by parents),
- Some pupils having several siblings,
- A lack of competition among pupils, as there are no school rankings that divide schools into better or worse,
The very inspiring stay in Finland was made possible by teacher training programmes funded by the European Union for many years, as Ms Barbara and Ms Johanna Jokela, who invited the teachers to Oulu, met several years ago in the UK, taking part in an action aimed at ‘lifelong learning’. This acquaintance has resulted in a long-standing correspondence exchange between the teachers' students. We hope to continue this cooperation.
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