Media Centre, Dept of Education, Helsinki (Finland)

24 October, 2007 (11.00am - 12.30pm)

Presenter: Ms Liisa Huovinen, Head of the Media Centre

Introduction:

The LEST October 07 group visited the Department of Education, Helsinki's Media Centre, meeting with the Head of the Media Centre, Liisa Huovinen.Ms Huovinen coordinates and leads ICT across the system.Ms Huovinen gave an overview to the group of the Department's statistics.The education system in Finland independently organised in each city.Helsinki's system of schools educates 60 000 students, employing 4,500 staff in 160 schools.The central Media Centre is situated within a secondary school (Yrs 9 -12).Each school has its own Media Centre.The central Media Centre employs 15 people.Across the system there is 100 staff, 55 of which are technical support.

The technology in schools is coordinated through the Media Centre.The computers in schools are not older than 5 years.There is a ration of 1 computer to 6 students.The mission of the centre is "to introduce media education and develop e-learning in the schools of Helsinki by supporting teachers ICT skills and media competence".The emphasis is on Pedagogy, rather than Technology, as seen in the publication, "From Technology to Pedagogy".There is a strong emphasis of Teachers' professional development in ICT.The centre visited also hosted a sound and television studio.

Education in Finland:Some key features

·60,000 students

·4,500 teachers

·Strong focus on students and learning

·Schools are dominantly organised as K - 9, then 10 - 12

·Strong valuing of teachers

·Largely, students attend their local school

·A comprehensive school system, rather than streaming

·Some specialisation, eg Music, Science, Athletics

·Most schools have enrolment of around 300 students - relatively small

·Teaching is based on a new National Curriculum

·Matriculation at age 18 is only National Test.

·Children may start school from 6 y.o., but must start by 7 y.o.

·There is some sample testing, "to inform the system as to how things are going"

·Strong commitment to ICT

·A system of peer review of staff and schools, using EFQM

·Schools have a school level Development Plan

·Challenge:"to get teachers to shut up, so students can learn"

·Teachers role is to guide learning

·Principal is team leader. Teachers seen as learners

The Teaching Profession in Finland

A National Education Reform in the mid 1970's made a real commitment to Education and learning.The Teacher in Finland is a highly valued and trusted professional.Competition to get into the profession is high.Only one in ten people who apply to study as a teacher are successful.The course is studied over five years.Teachers graduate with a Masters in Education, and then undertake a two year apprenticeship / internship.The salary of the teacher is comparable to Doctors and Solicitors.

Teachers rarely leave the profession, with a low exit rate of around 10% after five years of teaching.Dismissal of a teacher is difficult.High peer expectations encourage high performance.Peer professionals do not "suffer" poor performing colleagues.

Teachers work across different subject areas, with greater success of integration in primary schools.Teachers encourage student thinking and innovation.The profession is conscious of providing creative, thinking students for companies, such as NOKIA.

Why do students perform well in PISA?

The major educational reform happened over thirty years ago.It focussed on raising the status of teachers through increased pay.There was also strong professional development, especially in ICT.The profession of teachers take responsibility for learning standards. There is some sample testing done within the system, but no equivalent to the Australian testing program in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

The population of Finland is relatively homogeneous, compared to Australia.There is, though, a range of low and high SES among the population.

ICT:Highlights in Finland / Issues in Australia

From the mid 1970's, the Finnish government made a real commitment to embed ICT skills into learning.The current strategy to address Pedagogy and ICT includes:

·Creative, collaborative learning

·Fluent, efficient information management

·Setting goals

·Equipment in school

Implementation of the strategy in Helsinki involves cooperation from the Ministry of Education, Helsinki City and local School plans.There is some cooperation between other Finnish cities' Ministries of Education.

A tour of the facility highlighted than technology was not the focus of the Media Centre, but learning.Laptop computers were accessible to students, but stored in trolleys for access when needed.Room spaces were open and flexible, with furniture being mobile and able to be configured in many ways to suit the learning context.

Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis were not being currently used in Helsinki, but would be in the near future.There is a trend to have systems interoperable so that they could select the best of what was available and have the system integrated.Online / Distance education has not been developed as there is not geographical need for it in Finland.Students are within 5km of their local school.

There is high bandwidth access in Finland to all students in all regions: 100MB.Australia only has less than 1% of this level of access.Finland has complete access to all digital resources, including computer television.All analogue resources have been / are being converted to digital resources by the Media Centre.Australia's current broadband infrastructure restricts such access and initiatives.