How do the law and norms guide teaching in professional education in Finland?
One can be a great teacher even without any certificates, but the certificates guarantee a certain level of knowledge of all the teachers about pedagogics, human development, human learning, learning psychology, etc. Since I plan to teach at the University of Applied sciences, I have especially paid attention to relevant parts of education law. It says that: “The mission of the University of Applied Sciences is to provide higher education based on the requirements of working life and its development, as well as research, artistic and cultural backgrounds, and to support the student's professional growth.” Additionally, the University of Applied Sciences (later UAS) needs to do research, which helps working life, territorial development, and lifelong learning. The UAS in Finland is a non-profit organization.
It operates closely with working life and other universities. One needs to get a license to establish a UAS in Finland. The license “determine which degrees and associated titles UAS is to licensed to provide (educational responsibility).”
The UAS can decide how it organizes teaching and research (autonomy within limits). The UAS education is public, which means that anyone can go in and listen to the teaching. For a student studying for a degree in UAS is free of charge. When UAS provides additional courses for companies etc, it can collect payments.
“The Ministry of Education and Culture and the University of Applied Sciences agree on the quantitative and qualitative goals to be set for the activities of the University of Applied Sciences, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of their implementation. The possibility for the University of Applied Sciences to achieve its goals in Finnish or Swedish is safeguarded.”
“The Ministry of Education and Culture allocates core funding to universities of applied sciences on a computational basis, taking into account the quality, effectiveness, and scope of their activities and other educational and research and development policy objectives.”
Vocational training providers are responsible for the quality of their qualifications, training, and other activities and the continuous improvement of their quality. This is based on the self-regulation system.
Finlex (1998): http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1998/19980986
It operates closely with working life and other universities. One needs to get a license to establish a UAS in Finland. The license “determine which degrees and associated titles UAS is to licensed to provide (educational responsibility).”
The UAS can decide how it organizes teaching and research (autonomy within limits). The UAS education is public, which means that anyone can go in and listen to the teaching. For a student studying for a degree in UAS is free of charge. When UAS provides additional courses for companies etc, it can collect payments.
“The Ministry of Education and Culture and the University of Applied Sciences agree on the quantitative and qualitative goals to be set for the activities of the University of Applied Sciences, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of their implementation. The possibility for the University of Applied Sciences to achieve its goals in Finnish or Swedish is safeguarded.”
“The Ministry of Education and Culture allocates core funding to universities of applied sciences on a computational basis, taking into account the quality, effectiveness, and scope of their activities and other educational and research and development policy objectives.”
Who can teach
According to the government of Finland, the certificated teachers have a university degree and at least 60 credit points in each subject taught as part of the subject teacher training course, which are basic studies and subject studies in the subject or equivalent unit and 60 credit point od pedagogics courses.Vocational training providers are responsible for the quality of their qualifications, training, and other activities and the continuous improvement of their quality. This is based on the self-regulation system.
References (in Finnish):
Finlex (2014): http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2014/20140932, http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2014/20141129
Finlex ® on oikeusministeriön omistama oikeudellisen aineiston julkinen ja maksuton Internet-palvelu.
Hei Hanna!
VastaaPoistaOlet tehnyt hyvää työtä näiden reflektointien osalta! Samoin opetusten seurannat ja lainsäädäntöönkin paneutuminen on kunnossa: hieno juttu!
Työniloa jatkossakin!
trv. Orvokki J-P