Becoming a Finnish Teacher

  There is still time to register for the seminar. You can find more information on the  "Learning Future - Futures of Learning" net site. I have participated in many Futures Conferences during past years, and I can recommend it heartily. The conferences have always been very inspiring, and I have met many interesting people. This year the social connection will likely be weaker since it is an online event.  The conference is promoted on the net site as follows: "As we move further into the 21st century, we need to renew our understanding of what it means to learn, teach, and develop new knowledge. Education systems and learning processes for people of all ages are needed to navigate uncertainty, address known problems, identify new ones, and be able to detect and make the sense of emergent issues and opportunities. The roles of education and learning are also becoming more essential in solving the pressing global ecological, cultural, societal and economic challenges. ...

According to the Ministry of Education in Finland (2017), the Finnish strengths of the Finnish educational system is the ability to successfully combine high-quality teaching with efficiency and equality. Finland is such a small country that we have long recognized how important it is to recognize and utilize the talents of all of the citizens. Maybe be due to this fact Finnish people appreciate and value education and science. We think that know-how is the core of Finnish society. According to the Ministry of Education Finland is a that stresses the importance of creativity in teaching and learning. To sum up, the key to success has been creativity, equality, and efficiency. The idea of equal opportunities is at the core of Finnish society. Even the most radical right politicians think that education should free for all in Finland. This is something everyone seems to agree. That said, there are big disagreements on the content of the education and how it should be organized. People ...

The technological advancements transform our society at such a rapid pace, that it is difficult to foresee what kind of knowledge and skills the future adults need. It seems clear, however, that teaching and learning needs to adapt to fulfill those (yet unknown needs). According to Linturi (2014), this means that teaching and learning will be personalized, and it will be more focused on teaching skills than transferring knowledge. The responsibility of learning will be transferred from the teacher to the learner. Since society is more and more socially constructed it is essential to learn co-operation and working in groups.  When considering these changes in the light of different human perceptions we notice that there are some challenges to consider (in red color in the figures above and below). There is no big change in the light of human perceptions on whether the students are taught skills or knowledge. The present system is easy to apply ( Behavioristic, Freudian, K...