The competence goals for the teaching practice can be found on the website of the School of Vocational Teacher Education.

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1 Teaching Practice 11 ECTS credits (1P00BA27) Safety of the School 2 ECTS credits (1P00BA29) Teaching practice is governed by competence goals. Competences will be acquired during a guided teaching practice in a school or an institute. Student teachers and the placement guiding teachers cooperate in planning the timing and contents of the teaching practice. The extent of the teaching practice and the number of teaching hours during the practice vary. The bottom line is that the student practices until he /she has attained the required competence goals. The competence goals for the teaching practice can be found on the website of the School of Vocational Teacher Education. The purpose of teaching practice is to foster the teacher identity and personal vocational development of the student teacher. The student teacher will familiarize himself/herself with the teaching profession indepth and from various angles. The student teacher will analyze and develop his/her own conception and understanding of the all-round expertise and competence of a teacher. Teaching practice provides the student with an opportunity to practise as a vocational teacher either in his/her own vocational teaching job or by teaching assigned subjects defined by a guiding teacher. Student teacher can start the teaching practice towards the end of the vocational studies (VOC). Timing of the practice must be discussed with the vocational teacher education tutor. Detailed instructions for the teaching practice will be given during the vocational studies. Teaching practice process: 1. Orientation to teaching practice 2. Registration 3. Practice placement and tutoring 4. Criminal records extract 5. Collaboration and training contract 6. Safety of the school 7. Core plan 8. Execution of teaching and guidance/ and evaluation of learning and competences 9. Process portfolio reflecting on the student s experiences during practice

2 Guidelines for the teaching practice process. The teaching practice process comprises the following steps: 1. Orientation. Orientation to teaching practice will be implemented in each study group. Orientation to teaching practice for those student teachers who have commenced their studies before 2014 will be arranged separately either by contact or virtual means. Teaching practice starts with a familiarization to the teaching practice process. Each teacher student will get acquainted with the competence goals and important practicalities of the teaching practice in his/her own study group. Teaching practice orientation is part of the annual vocational studies. Students register for their teaching practice through the student portal teaching practice database. (see point 2). 2. Registration. Student teachers will register for the teaching practice two months before the practice is supposed to begin. After registration the students will start the Safety of the school studies in the Optima elearning environment. Student teachers register for teaching practice through the student portal (registration for teaching practice). In registration the student enters contact information of the placement school and the name of the guiding teacher into the system. Registration will be done two months before the teaching practice commences. It is also possible to register for the practice even prior to knowing what the exact placement and who the guiding teacher will be. This is information that can be submitted in the register later. 3. Practice placement and guidance. There are different options in finding a teaching practice placement and a guiding teacher, depending on which practice alternative is chosen by the student. Contact person for the Oulu region schools is Sirpa Aalto (sirpa.aalto@oamk.fi) from the student services. She will help and instruct students in finding practice placements and guiding teachers. In case the student needs help in finding a practice placement outside Oulu region, he/she can similarly turn to the student services for assistance. In Rovaniemi region and north of Finland in general the contact person for student services is Sirpa Perunka (sirpa.perunka@oamk.fi). Those teacher candidates who practise in their own vocational teaching job and those who practise outside the Oulu region will in most cases have to find their practice placements by themselves. The same applies to finding a pedagogically qualified guiding teacher. The practice information will be submitted in the practice data base. The task of the teacher tutor from the Oulu University of Applied Sciences is to tutor and guide the teacher candidate to attain the competence goals of the teaching practice. Tutors will help teacher candidates in planning, implementation and evaluation of the teaching practice. In addition, the tutor will observe and assess the teaching and guiding process, and other activities related to teaching practice. Receiving continuous feedback from the tutor will help the teacher candidate to develop his/her competence as a teacher. The teacher candidate and the guiding teacher will decide how the achievement of the required competences can be demonstrated during the teaching practice.

3 The teacher candidate preparing to undertake teaching practice will contact his/her guiding teacher and his/her tutor well in advance before the practice begins. The candidate will provide the guiding teacher with an orientation to the competence goals and practicalities of the teaching practice. Guidelines for the guiding teachers can be found in: During the teaching practice the tutor from the Oulu UAS will visit the placement to observe and guide the teacher candidate, providing the placement is located within a 200 km radius from Oulu or Rovaniemi. Guidance of a practice that takes place further away can be done online or by using video material. School of Vocational Teacher Education pays a fee of 250 for the teaching practice guidance. This fee is personal and will have to be billed by the guiding teacher by using a specified invoice form with a tax card for sideline income attached. Another option enables an educational institution to charge the School of Vocational Teacher Education by sending in an invoice for the practice fee. Billing address and detailed instructions can be found on the website of the School of Vocational Teacher Education. 4. Criminal records extract. The teacher candidate will order his/her criminal records extract from the Legal Register Centre. The extract must be presented to the head of the student services. (Universities of applied sciences act 6:34.4, government decree on universities of applied sciences 11.) Providing the teacher candidate is practising in an educational or other institution involving underaged children, the candidate must have the head of student services Pia Oikarinen in Oulu check his/her criminal records extract (pia.oikarinen@oamk.fi). The same applies to teacher candidates in Rovaniemi who will present the extract to Sirpa Perunka (sirpa.perunka@oamk.fi). The teacher candidate will order his/her criminal records extract from the Legal Register Centre If the candidate has no access to a reliable electronic identification means (e.g. a bank identifier, mobile certificate or a certificate card), the extract can also be ordered by filling and sending in a paper application form that can be printed out from the homepage of the Legal Register Centre. Instructions for the paper application procedure are available on the homepage of the Centre. The criminal records extract is free of charge for teaching practice. The purpose for which the extract is ordered must be stated in the application. In this case the applicant writes: Teaching practice with children. As presented to the study affairs officers, the criminal record extract must not be older than six months. Should the teacher candidate fail to present his/her extract to the study affairs officer, he/she will not be able to undertake any studies or practice that involves underaged children until the extract is presented. 5. Cooperation and teacher training contract. Prior to the commencement of the teaching practice the School of Vocational Teacher Education and the practice placement school / institute must sign a cooperation and training contract.

4 A prefilled and editable cooperation and teacher training contract template is located in the student portal. The student will have an access to the contract form after he/she has registered for his/her teaching practice. Teacher candidate is responsible for making sure that the given information in the contract is accurate and up-dated. Teacher candidate will print three copies of the contract. He / she will obtain signatures from the guiding teacher and the head of the educational institute to the contract. The School of Vocational Teacher Education signature is represented by an electronic sequence number. After the contract has been signed by all parties necessary, the teacher candidate delivers one copy of the contract to the School of Vocational Teacher Education in Oulu or in Rovaniemi. One copy of the contract is needed in the teaching practice placement school and one is kept by the teacher candidate him/herself. 6. Safety of the school. Before completing the core plan (see point 7) the teacher candidate will have to familiarize him/herself independently with the school safety material in Optima. These virtual studies are part of the Safety in the School study unit consisting of 2 ECTS credits. The safety competence acquired from this study unit will be utilized in the core plan, applied in the teaching practice and reflected upon after the teaching practice is over. After the teaching practice the tutor will allocate the credits for the practice. In connection with the completed teaching practice the tutor will also give credits for the Safety in the School study unit. 7. Creating a core plan. A core plan will be created by the teacher candidate before the teaching practice begins. At the beginning of the teaching practice the student teacher will start working on a core plan. The core plan, which is done on the core plan template, must be finalized before the actual teaching practice begins. The template for the core plan can be found in the homepage of the School of Vocational Teacher Education. Both the guiding teacher and the tutor will provide the student teacher with guidance in creating the core plan. As soon as the core plan is approved by all parties, the actual teaching practice can commence. 8. Implementation of teaching and guiding. Assessment of learning and competences. Teaching practice comprises design, execution, guidance and evaluation of a study unit, which has been accepted and approved by a guiding teacher and a tutor from the School of Vocational Teacher Education. Implementation of teaching and guidance is an integral part of the teaching practice. Teacher candidate, together with the guiding teacher and the tutor teacher will select either a study unit, a study module or part of a study programme for the teacher candidate to plan, execute and evaluate in terms of the competence goals to be achieved. It is imperative that the competences determined in the competence goals of the teaching practice will be demonstrated by the teacher candidate during the teaching practice. The competence goals of the teaching practice are documented on the website of the School of Vocational Teacher Education. 9. Reflecting on your teaching practice in a personal process portfolio. At the end of the teaching practice the teacher candidate reflects on the achieved goals and competences and his/her own professional

5 growth as a teacher in an individual process portfolio. The following themes can be used as a base for the reflection: - What was the meaning and personal significance of the teaching practice to me? - What did I learn and how am I going to develop my competences as a teacher in the future? - How do I evaluate my personal development during the teaching practice? Teaching practice is approved by the vocational teacher education teacher tutor.