Week 4 24/01/11 – 30/01/11

Cannot believe it’s been nearly a month since arriving.  Although I am still meeting lots of very interesting people, I’ve noticed that Finns are a lot more withdrawn and reserved.  They keep themselves to themselves.  However that said they are very helpful and will always do their best to aid you in any problems, whether it is asking for directions or asking what you are buying in the supermarket.  Finnish people are generally relaxed and this is reflected within my classes.  They create a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere in class, yet they do know the importance of education and a strong respect of the lecturer is shown.  The timetable for classes is still strange to me.  No two weeks are the same, with classes changing time and room from week to week.  Many classes end in March while others only start in March, so every week I need to check when my classes are.  This has made me become more organised.

All the Finnish people I have met seem to be involved in some sort of winter sport, like ice hockey, and being fit and healthy is emphasised in schools too.  Many schools do not have after school clubs but most students are involved in skiing and hockey outside of school. 

There is also national law with requires parents to be involved in teacher meetings (where they get time off work to attend) and homework supervision.  I think if this was implemented back home education will be given a greater importance and then the results of pupils work could improve.  Also there is not a focus on differentiation but instead pupils who are less able will be given more support to improve.  This means that there is very little difference in pupils’ results (only those who did not put in the effort will not achieve).

The country has an interesting was of insuring people recycle.  Shops will add 20 or 40 cents on top of the price of bottled drinks.  When you recycle the bottle at a bottle bank you will receive the 20 or 40 cents back.  This ensures people will recycle (as they will get their money back) and not just throw their waste away.

Picture: Walking in the snow can be challenging.

Week 3 17/01/11 – 23/01/11

Personal and Cultural

The temperature increased into plus degrees this week.  Although this meant that I could go outside with out my thermals it did have its problems.  The snow would melt in the day and re-freeze at night making it dangerous to walk on.  It requires a lot of concentration (and a little bit of luck) to not slip.  The city does have employees to put stones, like grit, on the ice for grip, but I am still not 100% confident.  However the weekend was very foggy.  On a day trip to Naantali there was an every fog over the frozen sea.  Naantali is a very scenic town and in the afternoon the fog cleared and we saw some fantastic views. The weekend was complete until I took part in cross-country skiing, a sport/past time which every Finnish good at, even the children were better than us exchange students.  It is very different from downhill skiing as it is a greater work out for your arms and legs.  Nonetheless it was a great experience.

Professional

First week of classes started this week starting with a language course, Finnish for Foreigners Survival Course.  The language is so different from English.  I found it very difficult to learn a new language when I have never had to learn a new language before.  Other classes this week included and introduction to Finnish schools in comparison of international schools.  This class is very interesting, even though we have only basic information at the moment.  Children start school at aged seven here as historically families from rural areas would need to send their children up to 200kms to get to school.  It would be unsafe and somewhat irresponsible to send children at four or five to a school 200kms way.  School years are also shorter, approximately 190 days as historically families needed to work together to collect the harvest in rural areas.  Schooling is compulsory until the age of 16, much like the UK and similarly there are opportunities to gain higher education for degree level and vocational qualifications as well.

My school experience classes which regard to teaching placement takes place in the teacher training school.  It was quite strange walking to the school and looking for the class but we were later told that education is public and anyone is allowed to observe the school’s practices.  This seemed shocking as back home there are so many child protection means we need to adhere to.

Photographs: (top) Cross-country skiing (a rare photo of me not falling in the snow),

(bottom) Naantali with the fog over the frozen sea.

Week 2 10/01/11 – 16/01/11

Personal and Cultural

Turku is the 2011 European capital of culture this year and had its official opening on Saturday.  However I was experiencing a different type of culture, the cottage weekend.  Most Finns own or rent a cottage to go to on weekends or over seasonal holidays.  This was about 30km from Turku near a frozen Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea, but there was nothing but trees and snow for miles around and it seemed so isolated.  It was really quiet and was a great opportunity to meet new Erasmus students, from; Russia, Spain, Germany, France, the Czech Republic and countless others.  The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) in Turku organises many trips from exchange students and there is a great community of Erasmus students forming.

One thing I have noticed is the amount of cyclist on the footpaths.  There are so many of them, the skinny tyres must help cut through the snow.  It can be difficult to get out of their way, but we are all combating the snow.

Professional

I had my first school visit and it was great.  The school is one of nine or ten teacher training schools which belongs the University.  It is also one of the International schools where have of the school is in English and many classes are bilingual.  There is a growing number of immigrant families in Turku and Turku International School has had a growth in students from different nationalities.  It is also very interesting that the school would choose the students which they want to be placed there, so they will chose the ones most suitable.  Also teachers need to educated to a Master’s degree to teach, a Bachelor is not good enough.  Teachers are given a lot of respect and trust, and as a result there is very little paper work (for example no reports or records), if a teacher says this is what happened then this is what happened.  There is a relaxed atmosphere and teachers wear casual clothes for teaching and pupils do not have a uniform.  Interesting in Religious Education pupils are taught by members of their religion, so a Muslim is taught by a Muslim and so on.  This has made the school arrange a timetable which allows all the students of a particular faith to be educated together and many students come from surrounding schools for these lessons.  This is also part of Finnish law.  There is a student welfare team which gives support to pupils with lower abilities which allows for pupils to receive more tuition to get better grades, however stronger pupils do not receive as much support.  The student welfare team includes student councillors, physiatrists and guidance councillors; there is a lot of effort placed into the welfare of the student.  

Photo: The cottage and its surrounds.

Week 1. 03/01/11-09/01/11

Personal and Cultural

I expected it to be cold when I arrived, but I was shocked by the temperature after arriving in Helsinki -17^oC.  I didn’t expect to meet another exchange student on my flight.  My only expectation of the Finnish people was that they drive well in bad whether conditions (from the success as Rally drivers) and they would drink, a lot.  However after a lecture on Finnish society and culture, I’m even more curious.  Most of the people I have met haven’t been Finnish so I still don’t know if the stereotypes are true.  The Finnish people are very friendly and helpful and they would go out of their way to help.  Nearly all the Finns speak English as well as Swedish.  The only problem with the language is that my English is much lazier and so I have started to slow down my speech and to take out my slang and regional phrases and words.

I wasn’t sure how I might cope with being outside my comfort zone but to be honest there has been so much to take in and to do that I haven’t had time to think about what I was doing I was just doing it, with the help of my Erasmus tutor of course.  There is so much that I have needed to do, so I would do it and somehow find time to revise for my exams. 

The price of food and a bus ticket seems to be extortionate however once I got a student bus card it made travelling around the city and to the university less of a strain on my bank account. 

Professional

Having had no classes yet only orientation lectures I can already see that punctuality is very important (the students studying in the Faculty of Education have been told to be on time for our school visit, not even a few minutes late) and that all the lecturers are very friendly and easy to approach.  After visiting the library I found it confusing as to why you need to request books online, but it is because they keep their books underground.  It’s strange that a university library would not present their books for their students to browse.  One of my favourite things about the University of Turku is that it’s free to print (unless you print silly amounts of pages), must be all the trees.  The strangest educational system I have discovered is in Russia.  One of the exchange students is from Russia, studying telecommunications, and is in the third year of his studies and is only 18!!!  It seems that if you are good enough at your subject (in this case mathematics and ICT) you can choose to spend half as long in high school and go to university at a younger age.  Everyone was shocked when we heard this.

 

Education even at degree level is free in Finland as the strong Students’ Unions have been successful in fighting against proposed tuition fees, after taking to my tutor I found out that the government pays students to study, clearly education is highly valued tin Finland.  It seems strange to be moving from one part of the world where thousands of students are demonstrating against a further increase to one where the government can’t implement any fees.  However the structure and course organization of the university will be seen soon and commented upon in later weeks.

Photographs (top): The Lutheran Cathedral, Finland's oldest building.

(bottom): This car won't be going anywhere for a long time.