Week 18 01/05/11 – 08/05/11

So this week everything ended.  My classes are totally finished, I got my placement hours handed in and all I have left is assignments.  Because of the timetable of the education system here in Finland it seems like I have not taken that many classes, however this is because the semester is split into two seconds, the first in January, February, March and the second is March through to May.  This has allowed me to pace my self through exams and assignments as the deadlines are not all at the end of May and the exams are not all at the end of the whole term.  I prefer this system due the ability to manage tasks better; however the placement not being allocated a specific timetable wasn’t to my favour.  Similarly the essays and assignments I need to write do not have a word count but a page limit, for example a 5 page essay.  This makes it difficult for me to see how critical I need to be of texts and how detailed they need to be, especially when there is no set guide line to what font or size of text is used and is this double lined spacing or one and a half lined spacing?  Usually sticking to the Times New Roman font size 12 with one and a half line spacing works best and is universally accepted for these tasks. 

As I have no classes this month it allows me to spend some quality time with the fantastic people I have met on Erasmus before we all part ways, especially since I am less likely to see some international students again.  Plus now that there zero snow and the days are so much longer we can all enjoy our surroundings.  It seems so different from the first few months and feels good not to have to put on your hat, coat, gloves and thermals use to go you side to empty the rubbish.  The spring and summer is enjoyed by the Finns as they could not do so in the long winter, in this respect I feel quite Finnish as I too am trying to enjoy the spring weather (I did manage to find Jarno Sarinen's grave the only Finnish motorcycle world champion). 

Week 17 26/04/11 – 02/04/11

So this week was a significant week for Finnish students as on the weekend it was VAPPU.  This is similar to the May Day bank holiday only I have never seen any get this excited about a bank holiday.  The whole week there were students discussing what was going to happen at VAPPU and how it is the best weekend on the Finnish calendar.  My expectations were very high, as were many other exchange students who were experiencing VAPPU for the first time.  As Friday came along we all put on our student overalls and went to the hill near the art museum to have a picnic, which is not the ‘wild party’ I had been hearing but was nonetheless very enjoyable to just relax with friends in the sun (yes the sun exists, I have seen it).  However I was informed the Saturday was ‘The Big Day’ when it really kicks off.  On Saturday what seemed like all of Turku showed up at the art museum for an address by a man in a cape, the student president or some form of student, after a procession of carrying the different factuality’s flags and a brass band on the back of a truck.  It was already much more eventful that the previous day which had felt like a huge let down after all the build up.  I could only understand a few words of the address but everyone else was cheering and waving their white hats.  These hats are given out when pupils graduate from high school and I felt left out that I did not have one.  Many of the more elderly population were there with their hats too; it was a day when everyone came together in celebration.  After the address everyone donned their hats and the champion was opened (not that an excuse for drinking was need for the Finns).

After the address we paraded to a statue on the river bank.  I was surprised that the police had not closed the roads and that a large group of people could simply saunter down the roads on VAPPU.  At the statue the dentistry students cleaned the statue with a giant toothbrush and a song.  This was the most entertaining thing of the day, as everyone was clearly having a good time.  Afterwards there was another speech, in Finnish, English and Swedish.  It seemed that the student body wasn’t happy with the newly elected government and some clear political statements were spoken, not to mention the hat being thrown to the ground shortly after it was placed on the statue’s head.  Overall I felt the weekend did not live up to my expectations but it was enjoyable to spend more time with my exchange friends and see VAPPU.

Pictures: top At The Art Muesum

bottom: The Statue with the hat on it.

Week 16 18/04/11 – 25/04/11

This week I travelled into Russia first visiting Saint Petersburg and than heading on to Moscow.  After hearing a number of stories about how dangerous the cities were I was very cautious about my possessions but after spending a few days in the cities touring the various sites it was clear that the rumours and stories did not weigh up and in fact the two big cities are no more dangerous than any other big European city.  However I think that because Finland is so safe in comparison to many other countries I was more cautious when in a foreign land, especially one as big as Russia.  However it was an exciting time to go as the Russians were preparing for a number of state holidays and the armed forces where on parade on occasion.  I felt the level of patriotism was very high as the tours of the old emperors’ state homes and Tsars’ homes were clearly a significant part of the countries history.  The two cities were what I had tough they would be like, magnificently designed buildings amongst very communistic blocks of flats.  I was mostly surprised by the large number of Orthodox churches, especially when the country was communist for so long and communism regards atheism, or no religion, as the state religion (generally speaking).  As it was Easter weekend there were a number of churches actively taking part in very interesting and different services through out the city.  Compared to Finland Russia is very religious and it is clear by the number of Cathedrals in Moscow and St. Petersburg.  However as a holiday Finland only receive Good Friday and Easter Monday off school as opposed to the one and a half or two week holiday I have seen almost all schools use in the UK.

The Russian culture is very different and anything could happen, I saw cars being repaired in the middle of a four lane road junction!  Not to mention the love of vodka the Russians have, I’m sure if there is more alcohol in Russia or Finland (in relation to the population) but both have a strong love of the grape.  The traffic of vehicles and people is extremely high, but maybe this is because being born and raised in Belfast with a population of only half a million people, compared to the 10 million in Moscow.   

Pictures (after a slight absence from previous posts) from top: The Entrance to the Cold War Bunker.

St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square.

One of the many parades in preparation for Victory Day.

The Aurora Battleship, used in the Bolshevik Revolution.

Week 15 11/04/11 – 17/04/11

Looking back at my exams in January I found it difficult to get accustomed to a new culture and lifestyle (and temperature) whilst revising for my exams.  It was no problem to take the exams here, in fact because of the time difference I preferred it, I did not have to get up for an exam at 9.30 am but instead 11.30 am which was much easier to do after a gradual start to the day.  It was impossible to take everything I needed to revise for the exams but making revision notes and taking over PowerPoints worked fine.  The hardest part was getting all my assignments done and handed in in hard copy before the college closed for Christmas, yet this meant I had more time to create revision notes, prepare for leaving and have more of a Christmas holiday, which I liked.

This week ended my placement.  The school placement was in Turku International School which, I feel, helped develop my skills of teaching EAL students.  However there is not a lot of differentiation in Finnish schools which I don not really like as some pupils could be pushed and achieve more however this does not happen which is unfortunate.  However my favourite thing about the Finnish school systems is that teachers are just left to teach.  When I think of the schools back in the UK, teachers are always scrutinized and made to do a lot of paper work.  There needs to be a balance between teachers’ work life and personal life.  Especially on School Based Work which seems that there is a lot of work outside the classroom with a large amount of lesson plans, resources, units of work, etc. however there is much less work on the students behalf.  There is still a need for lesson plans and resources however the curriculum is the unit of work for the year.  However the work for other classes and the school placement is still quite a lot.

On a more cultural note, the spring has arrived.  After the longest winter season I have ever experienced (the snow arrived in November and is finally starting to go away), I have been treated to double figures in positive degrees Celsius.  However after the long dark winter everyone comes out to enjoy the weather and the town centre is very busy and crowded, but there is also a market now and a change to see things I never thought I would miss, like green grass and road markings.

Week 14 4/04/11 – 10/04/11

This week on the placement course, School Experience, I had to present to my peers what I had learnt from and about the school placement over the last few weeks.  The two placements are so different that it was difficult to mention everything inside of fifteen minutes and give background information about Northern Ireland’s school systems for the other exchange students as well.  The little cultural different make so much different between the two countries.  For example; children are used to going to and from school on their own in the dark where as back home it is not the best thing to do as it is more dangerous.  Finland is a very safe country; the only thing that may happen is that you get your bicycle stolen, but this very rare.  As Finland is so quiet and safe it makes other countries I have visited, like Sweden, a bit wild although it is still a very safe country.  However the rest of the presentation focused on the differences between my main subject, Religious Studies.  Here in Finland it is more like religious instruction as pupils are split up into members of Orthodoxy, Lutheran Church, Islam and ethics.  The ethics classes are for pupils who are not part of a church or do not have anyone from their own religion to instruct them.  Parents are allowed to request that their child is instructed in their religion.  This provides difficulties for the schools as they may have to send the pupils to other schools for religious instruction.  The Ethics lessons are much more like the RE classes in Northern Ireland as they cover a wide variety of religions and ethical questions.  However there is not a focus to develop the pupils’ spirituality as there is in the NI curriculum.  However a lot of the subject content is similar.  As my time on the school placement has comet to an end I think that staying in Turku International School has helped develop my communication into a less ‘East-Belfastian’ dialect which pupils who have English as an additional language can understand.  I aimed to develop my skills of working with EAL pupils as there is an increase of pupils with EAL in Northern Ireland over the last few years.

Week 13 28/03/11 – 3/04/11

This week was rather intense as the work load has increased over the last few weeks and finding time to go to my school to observe lessons has been more difficult.  The school is approximately 30 minutes away from the university and this makes observations and teaching lessons very hectic as we still have lectures to attend at university.  However there is a lot to be learnt during the observations and it also allows time for me to get to know the pupils before teaching them, especially as Turku International School has a very diverse student population.  Yet having a separate teaching practice is much more efficient, I feel, as opposed to having to work hours around classes.

In Finland there are no uniforms and teachers can wear what they please.  As a student teacher not wearing a shirt and tie seems strange and I get the feeling that I am not a figure of authority in casual clothes.  However this might be the reason why pupils have such a good relationship with their teachers.  This also contributes to the relaxed atmosphere in the classroom, yet I feel that the older pupils use this as a fashion parade.  I would have liked no uniforms when I was a pupil but now I am not sure.

Language is a large part of Finnish culture as the nation is bi-lingual and the International obviously has a large number of pupils with varying language skills.  In Northern Ireland there is a very small minority of ethic groups, as the population is almost exclusively white and ‘Christian’, meaning that there are not a lot of methods to develop pupils’ native language, whereas Finland encourages this.  This also meant that I had to change my dialect slightly so certain words could be understood more clearly by the international students.  This has been quite noticeable for me and at times very difficult to change how I speak, but it was necessary and this is something which we have discussed in Stranmillis but it is not an issue there as we all have similar dialects. 

The busy timetable makes it difficult to do many traditional Finnish activities (like cross-country skiing, although there is a lot less snow now), however this weekend a group of us exchange students went to go ice swimming.  After sitting in a sauna in temperatures of approximately 80 degrees Celsius we dived into the frozen Baltic Sea.  It was a sensational feeling and after you feel refreshed.  The sauna is something that is very sparse in Northern Ireland as only a few leisure centres whereas every apartment complex seems to have one.

Week 12 21/03/11-27/03/11

On Monday I had another school visit only this time to a primary school that works along side a special needs school.  The two were not entirely integrated together but there have been plans to do this.  Having visited a SEN school back in November for a week I thought that having a special needs school work along side a primary school was good to develop awareness of what happens in SEN schools.  The classes where similar as they had a teacher and two or three assistants in the room, yet in this school many teachers were proficient in sign language which was a great aid to their teaching.  Many similar technologies are used here in Turku as are used back in Northern Ireland, for example using a microphone connected to pupil hearing aids.  The goal for these schools was to assist pupils to a stand as close as possible to regular schools.  However I think the assessment measures are better here as the teacher evaluates the pupil’s performance and gives exams of improved work to and outside agenises who wish to observe this.  Whereas pupils need to take a standardised test back in Northern Ireland which many not take into account the pupil’s skill or progress and I feel it does not reflect what and how the pupil has learnt, whereas a report from the teacher would be better.  In Finland the teacher has 100% trust by the powers that be to do what they will.  This makes reports and other documents hold so much more weight as opposed to that which occurs back in Northern Ireland.  If teacher got the same amount of trust and respect as they do in Finland it would radically reduce the work load of the teachers, for the better in my opinion. 

Another significant factor in Finnish education is that parents are in constant contact with the teachers about their child.  This support and reinforcement of learning is, in my opinion, the reason why Finnish schools achieve in international studies.  The pupils do not do more or less work than what is taught back in the UK (if anything they are given less tuition) but it is supported greatly, which is the significant difference and one which I would like to see in education back in Northern Ireland.

Week 11 14/03/11 – 21/03/11

Just when I thought spring was coming to Turku it starts snowing again.  It looks like there will be snow until the mid April.  Now it’s clear to see why Finland is so good at winter sports, from mid November to mid April there is snow.  In Northern Ireland we had two weeks of snow and the country couldn’t cope.

This week I had two guest speakers in a few of my lectures and the whole dynamic and atmosphere was different.  I know we have guest speakers at Stranmillis but here it is different as the Finnish lectures try to create an atmosphere that is friendly and relaxed but on occasion they often just create a boring lecture.  So when a different speaker takes a lesson and uses some active participation we get excited.  The active learning given here is used less frequently than back in Stranmillis and I feel that the students learning often suffers from this and getting motivated for these classes can be difficult.  This mean that there is more independent study involved however we need to observe information that we do not cover in class where as in Stranmillis we cover extra on what we have learnt and rarely id it something completely new.

The teaching placement here is radically different than back in Stranmillis.  We need to fit our lessons and observations around lectures, which is very difficult as every week classes are moved around, cancelled or added to my timetable.  This is probably the thing I dislike the most as the semester is split up into two terms of January and February then March and April although the official end date of the term is the 27^th of May, however in May there are very few classes and schools are moving to the end of their year.  The six or seven weeks intense placement at Stranmillis works better, I feel, because it is difficult to prepare lesson plans, resources and observations reports at the same time as writing an essay, a learning diary and any other independent study.

Week 10 7/03/11-13/03/11

This week was the start of Lent and as a result on Sunday everybody went sledging, it was sledging day in Finland and thousands go sledging.  Also on Shrove Tuesday, during a school visit, I experience a traditional meal.  There was a pea soup with minced meat, which tasted really good, but the main piece of food was a shrove bun or Laskiaispullat.  The shrove bun is the Finnish equivalent of our pancake on Shrove Tuesday.  The pastry had wiped cream and a raspberry jam spread in between it and it was very tasty. 

On Tuesday we had a school visit to a Finnish high school.  There was an opportunity to observe a few lessons and chat to the teachers.  The most striking thing I noticed was the equipment that the school had.  Every room had a data projector and at least two computers.  The school provides all the equipment which was phenomenal as the music department had electric drum kits, bass guitars, microphones, amplifiers and a number of other equipment.  But the technology department wowed me the most.  There was more equipment in that department than I have ever seen; gas and mig welders, ban saws, drilling equipment and other tools I have never seen before, all with automated vacuums to minimise dust.  When entering the computer programming suit (which included a computer guided laser cutter!) the teacher told us that they felt they needed more equipment as their current equipment was 4 years out of date.  It was the same throughout all the school departments, they all had a lot more equipment and a lot more sophisticated technology than any school I had visited in my entire life!  The school does benefit from the governments focus on good education and it would be great if Northern Ireland had even half of the amount of equipment.

Within many observations it struck me that pupils have a lot of freedom.  They talk to their classmates constantly as well as on occasion listen to their MP3 players and even answer their mobile phones!  Pupils would walk in and out of the class with ease and the teacher would not make any thing of this.  The relaxed setting and freedom of the pupils gives the impression that in a class which lasts 45 minutes not a lot of work gets completed, however Finland is third in the world for educational success so these methods must be working.

Picture: the Laskiaispullat

Week 9 28/02/11-6/03/11

On Monday there was a plethora of Finnish flags in the city.  Usually there are very few Finland flags but Monday was Kalevala Day.  It was a day which celebrates the completion of Kalevala, a Finnish poem from ancient oral tradition.  The material, comprises old Finnish ballads and lyrical songs depicting "the sons of Kalevala", and was first published in two editions in 1835 and in 1849.  It was good to see Finland flying their flag as last weekend I was in Stockholm with a few students and we commented on how Sweden flies their flag with pride.

This week I observed a class at Turku International School where I do my school placement.  The class was a games lesson.  For sport the Finnish schools provide the possibilities to as many sports as possible, so one term the pupils will do cross-country skiing and the next boys will learn ice hockey skills and girls will be taught some figure skating techniques.  It was fascinating when my assigned teacher told me that the schools provide all the equipment and winter sports have a lot of equipment and most of it is expensive.  Helmets, skies, ice skates, etc are all paid for by the school system.  The lesson took place on an ice rink under the school in an old nuclear bunker.  The teachers have a good relationship with the pupils and because of the status teachers have it means that the pupils respect the teacher, although there is still the odd occasion where pupils act out of turn, but it instantly stopped when the teacher said something to the pupil.  There is also a break of fifteen minutes between each lesson in which the pupils have a break or recess and it allows for the teacher to prepare for the next class.  The class I observed was grade 6 which is the equivalent to years 8/9 although they are still in the primary education stream due to their later starting age.

With one of my classes, Finnish schools in the light of international comparison, we created a presentation on our home countries school system compared to Finland’s.  The Nigerian system was rather striking at how religion, politics and the former British colonial powers had, and still does, influence the school system.  To attend a university in Nigeria you can take British A-levels to gain entry.  Other countries which were compared to the Finnish system was; Spain, USA, South Korea, China, Nigeria, Armenia, Russia and the UK.  I learnt that South Korea had the highest PISA result and how vastly different their school system is as there is very few holidays with a lot of independent study and a long school day 2 or 3 hours longer than our system.   

Picture: Stockholm, the Swedish seem more proud about their flag and nation than the Finns.