After the long intro, it is difficult to think I’m not good at writing blog entries, but it’s something with a high level of effort for me.
Now, travelling to meet everyone and be in the same place was a bit bizarre after the pandemia. Being at the University and Oulu during this time of the year was extremely nice, as well as being together with an amazing group of people from all over the world and diverse backgrounds.
Understanding and going through the basics of how the certification went really quick. Lots of information to process and to get in motion. I thought I had everything ready regarding the pre-tasks but as it turned out I was not familiar with the systems that students need to manage. For people not familiar with Finnish educational systems a tutorial can be helpful and will save time during the concentration days at Oulu.
Being part of an international group is amazing and it does bring a special flavour to the group and dynamic. As we get to know each other the possibilities to enrich our perspectives are huge and therefore I believe that time together can prioritize this type of interaction.
Now, many things to think about that I hope to reflect on during the certification:
Finnish VET and VET Teaching: Many things to learn as my understanding is limited on this, especially regarding special regulations for this level of education. As expected, my experience is in other contexts and other levels of education as well. Considering the national framework of qualifications has been recently changed for VET I hope to learn and understand the dynamics of it.
I know it is necessarily relevant for the certification per se, but there’s a lot of debate in LatAm about this level of education and how to generate the right dynamic so that this path of education is as desirable as the higher education path. Now that this is not the case in Finland and according to the National Agency of Education, close to 42 % of students choose this path, as a valid and first choice possibility. I believe there’s a lot to be learned from as a country and society.
Also thinking in a more intentional way about adult education is interesting. Many of the issues in education Finland is known for in terms of education are more related to early education and K-12, so to have a more integral view and discussion is something I’m interested in.
Learning beyond the lesson Our first days in Oulu brought a lot of questions and challenges. Some of them are how to really be able to learn, to teach effectively and how to demonstrate our competencies.
From the very beginning, it was evident that it is a traditional certification or formal educational process, and the delivery speaks about this process. Our teacher’s role is not to be an instructor and is centred on the learning process and not just on the content.
Really thinking on terms such as: competence-based, student-centered, adult education, Finnish HES
Becoming a teacher–facilitator: the process of learning, teaching, and demonstrating Competencies. Teachers just teach?
Most of us have been immersed in the educational system from the beginning of our lives and we have had diverse types of teachers, some of them inspired us and some of them made us enjoy coming to school. Some teachers made the learning process fun and ignite the passion for knowledge, solving problems and deeper learning.
Other teachers were not that fun and engaging. So, there’s an art to teaching and not just one-way fits all to doing so.
Wondering now more than before if we say many wonderful things about teaching on paper, we know a lot of authors and theories, but do we really do in practice and how to improve the quality, meaningfulness, and purpose of what we do in different contexts. What is happening to the people we are learning with, it’s not just about the teacher’s role.
Multicultural challenges and opportunities - Getting to know each other and gaining new perspectives During the first online session in June we already knew the group was not only diverse but quite interesting. However, the possibility of being together and working in groups makes the difference.
Different cultures, experience in terms of teaching, age, working field, even time difference. An excellent cocktail to amplify our perspectives.
Not sure, but I think English is not the native tongue of any of us, so surely also we will improve our communication skills in another language, nit to mention our group skills in remote and presential modalities.
Team context – group dynamics, realities…. We had the chance to work in different groups during the days in Oulu and gave us the possibility to experience the kind of work to be done during the certification. The bike exercise provides us showed us the type of dynamic to be set, but also the competence-based approach and the structure to consider. Many things to keep on learning on competencies: what they truly are, how to define them, how to set them with the students and/or peers, how to demonstrate them.
Even the reflection task to share the next day was interesting.
Moving to not only group work but collaborative work in our groups for the Seminar we got a chance to taste the challenges and possibilities of planning together but deliver it in separate groups. Interesting to see the many variables to consider and to explore: even if we plan the same lesson/learning space, the outcome will not be exactly the same!
Now working together, but remotely will be a challenge, and a chance to keep learning from and with each other.
Comments
Post a Comment