ARION GROUP REPORT BILINGUAL LANGUAGE SYSTEM IN FINNISH SCHOOL-SYSTEM HELSINKI 3 7 March 2003
Contents 1. Introduction 2. Programme of the Week 3. General Overview 4. Distance Teaching and Virtual Classroom 5. Bilingual Language Education 6. Teacher Training 7. The European Framework in Language Teaching 8. Trade Union of Teachers in Finland 9. Acknowledgement
1.Introduction Theme Place Language teaching Helsinki, Finland Time 03-07 March 2003 Organizer Kalevi Pohjala, Piia Heinämäki National Board of Education Centre for International Mobility Working languages Participants English, German MSs of the Union France (3 persons), Germany (3 persons), Greece (1 person), Spain (1 person) CCs of the Union Hungary (2 persons), Poland (1 person) Institutions visited National Board of Education Centre for International Mobility Book publisher WSOY Mattbergsskolan in Espoo Olarin koulu ja lukio Helsingin Ranskalais-suomalainen koulu Ateneum Art Museum Helsinki Second Teacher Training School Federation of Foreign Language Teachers
2. Programme of the visit Sunday, 2 th March Monday, 3 th March Short indroductory meeting A.M - Welcome to the Centre for International Mobility CIMO - Introductory discussions with guests - The Finnish Education System - Diversification and development of language teaching in Finland P.M - Language curriculum an Matriculation examination - Visit to the biggest text book publisher, WSOY Tuesday, 4 th March A.M - Visit to Mattbergsskolan in Espoo (Swedish speaking primary school) or - Visit to Olarin koulu ja lukio (Finnish-speaking lower secondary and upper secondary schools) P.M - Visit to Mattbergsskolan / Olarin koulu ja lukio continues - Distance learning in Finland - Presentation by the participants Wednesday, 5 th March Thursday, 6 th March A.M - Visit to Helsingin Ranskalais-suomailainen koulu (French-Finnish bilingual school) P.M - Bilingual education in Finland - Visit to Ateneaum Art Museum A.M - Visit to Helsinki Second Teacher Training School Friday, 7 th March P.M - Presentations by the participants at Helsinki Second Teacher Training School A.M - Visit to the Federation of Foreign Language Teachers in Finland (SUKOL) P.M - Evaluation conversation at CIMO - Time for work on group report - Closing Dinner
3. General Overview Organisation Generally speaking the organisation of the program was excellent regarding both the accommodation and the official program. The choice of the hotel was very advantageous as being comfortable, close to the centre, to the means of transport and having free internet access and an attractive price in the light of the scholarship provided by the Union. The official program covered all the areas the group was interested in. Additional programs were offered for participants having special interest in some topics (e.g. health education) Our proposal is to organise a Finnish language course as a so-called pattern course in the beginning of the official sessions in order to get an impulse, an idea about language teaching in Finland and to experience in a very practical and close way the atmosphere and the motivation of teaching and learning. This pattern course may serve as an introduction into all the official programs and visits afterwards. 4. Virtual School and Distance Learning Distance Learning in Finland by Mrs. Minna Prunnila, National Board of Education. Due to the fact that Finland is in some parts sparsely populated and sometimes pupils - have to travel long distances to come to school the idea of virtual schools or virtual classrooms was developed. Since internet and wireless communication technologies have advanced this idea is put into practice. Virtual Schools bring equality and variations to traditional learning environments. It works in basic education, at the upper secondary level, in vocational studies and in adult education. This type of school is mainly used in Lapland in the North and other remote areas in the East of the country. In Finland there is a tendency that people move into big cities, because the living conditions and the education of their children is more convenient and easier to access. To offer good education to people who live in remote areas the government supports the concept of long distance learning.
During our visit we have seen a long distance learning classroom in the Finnish/French bilingual school in Helsinki. There, a large TV screen and a number of computers are connected to each other. In a classroom at another school you will find the same equipment. On one half of the TV screen the teacher is shown and on the other half you can see the pupils. The teacher communicates with the pupils in her or his classroom face to face and with the pupils who are far away. This only works with a small number of pupils and both teachers and pupils have to get accustomed to this method of teaching. Otherwise pupils in remote areas don t have the opportunity of taking part in certain lessons. In Finland long distance learning is an absolute necessity and technical equipment is supplied. Teachers and pupils are very satisfied with this kind of teaching and it is greatly appreciated. As for ICT training for teachers there are three different levels of fifteen weeks each. The first level is for all teachers. The second level is more specialized and more pedagogical. This is for half of the teachers. The third level is only for 10% of the teachers. These teachers will be there to help other teachers and they will be paid for that. Municipalities are the institutions in charge of paying teachers. About computers The number of pupils sharing one computer is in Comprehensive schools 9.9 Upper secondary schools 10.4 Special schools 4.7 The national target is about 10 pupils sharing one computer. 5. Bilingual Education in Finland (Ms Anna-Kaisa Mustaparta, National Board of Education) Bilingual education has a long tradition in Finland because of historical reasons. Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden for 600 years and there is still a considerable Swedish minority in the western and southern parts of the country. Therefore Swedish is the second official language in Finland and it is a compulsory language taught both in basic education and secondary education. Besides Finnish-Swedish bilingual schools English, German, French and Russian are also involved in bilingual education. The Canadian model is followed in bilingual education with the three basic types being: - total immersion - partial immersion - CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning).
According to the total immersion method immersion in the foreign language starts at an early age, in grade 1 or even earlier, in the kindergarden, and 100% of the classes are taught in the foreign language. Partial immersion means that at an early stage everything is taught in the foreign language except for the mother tongue. Later on immersion in foreign language decreases, by grade 6 only 50% of classes are held in the foreign language. As students advance towards the matriculation exam, which they have to take in Finnish, an increasingly smaller part of the teaching is done in the foreign language. CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) involves some subjects taught through the medium of the foreign language, however the time devoted to it can vary, a part of the subject teaching is done in the foreign language, a part of it is done in the mother tongue. Subject teachers who teach in a foreign language have to take a Language Proficiency Examination, they are required to pass level 5 out of 6 levels, which equals C.1 in the Common European Framework. Teachers involved in bilingual teaching do not get extra payment for teaching their subject in a foreign language. Neither do bilingual schools get extra money for the extra service they offer, some municipalities may provide extra budget for bilingual schools but they are not obliged to. Bilingual education starts in primary schools, normally secondary schools do not start bilingual education. It is not a problem to find appropriate teaching material in Swedish, nevertheless it can be a bit more problematic to find good material in English, not to mention German, French or Russian. The schools arrange it for themselves to provide the students as well as the teachers with the teaching material in the foreign language. The Finnish-French bilingual school we visited was an exceptionally well-equipped school, of 74 teachers 24 are French speakers (8 of them are sent by the French Ministry of Education) and all in all 30% of the employees speak French. Study trips to France are organised on a regular basis for every 4 th and 8 th grade. Part of the group also visited a Swedish-speaking primary school (Mattbergsskolan in Espoo). The principal of the school, Mr Carl-Johan Bonn, informed the group about his school. The number of pupils has grown over the last 20 years, at the moment there are 320 pupils, 50 per cent being from bilingual families. Some of the pupils have parents who both speak Swedish and following to that 5 10 percent of the pupils don t speak any Finnish at all. Presently there are 25 teachers at the school who have to be Swedish and must know Finnish as well. They teach a minimum of 24 lessons a week and work as class teachers. There is a minimum of 12 pupils per class for a language lesson and the average number of pupils per class is between 20 and 30. The teachers are chosen by the school board (committee with pupils, teachers, parents, members of community, principal ) whereas temporary teachers are chosen by the principal. In the 1 st grade the pupils study in Swedish, in the 2 nd grade they have 1 hour per week to study Finnish as a foreign language. In the 4 th grade the pupils can choose another voluntary foreign language, that is English or German. Experience so far shows that 100 % of the pupils decide on learning a further voluntary foreign language which is taught 2 hours a week. The group was very much impressed by the high level of language proficiency in an English class (8 th grade) they visited.
6. Teacher Training We learned about the teacher training in Finland during our visit to Helsingin II normaalikoulu, teacher training school. We were very much impressed by the system of teacher training in Finland. It seems to be effective to combine theory and practice in an integrated system. The teachers-to-be study one main subject at the university and during this time they have to do three different periods of teaching practice. As an entrance requirement for the teaching practice the students have to pass a special test where they have to show their aptitude for the teaching profession. The students can put their theoretical knowledge into practice, being counselled by special teacher trainers. Every student has his or her own personal teacher trainer. To become a teacher trainer a normal teacher must be a master of education and have two years of teaching experience at a school. He has to pass a special training course, before counselling and evaluating the young teacher trainees. To the group it also seemed quite important that the teacher trainers as well as the schools they teach at are especially active in school-development, implementing new teaching methods. Teacher training involves a continuing process of courses. There is special emphasis on developing evaluation, feedback sessions and information and communication technologies and new learning environments, for example creating conventional and digital portfolios and networks. In this way the young students are made familiar with innovative concepts at an early stage. The close cooperation between the universities and the teacher training schools can be a good model for teacher training systems all over Europe. After having finished the master s degree every student has the option whether to go into the teaching profession or work in the industry. In this way the teacher training isn t a one-way-road in case the student doesn t get a job as a teacher. During our whole visit we experienced an atmosphere of trust and help in the schools and this is also true of the work done at teacher training schools. The students are evaluated in a positive way. For example the teacher trainer points out to the trainee the things he or she does well and in what areas he still has to improve. The principal of the school emphasized that this principle of trust might be the secret of the success of the Finnish school system.
7. The European Framework in Language Teaching The Common European Framework is meant to provide a common basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, textbooks, etc. across Europe. It describes in a comprehensive way what language learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively. The description also covers the cultural context in which language is set. The Framework also defines levels of proficiency which allow learners progress to be measured at each stage of learning and on a life-long basis. Directives are ready to be sent to the schools in order to elaborate their own curricula. For the languages the framework assessment is the most important change. The European Language Portfolio (ELP), approved by the Council of Europe, refers to the European framework. It promotes - plurilingualism - pluriculturalism - learner autonomy - learner self-assessment Its functions - pedagogical as skills refer to understanding (listening and reading), speaking (spoken interaction and spoken production) and writing - reporting : the ELP displays the owner s capabilities in relation to foreign languages. The reporting function of the ELP coincides with the Council of Europe s interest in - facilitating individual mobility - relating regional and national qualifications to internationally agreed standards The European portfolio has got three components: A passport - overview of proficiency - common reference levels in the Common European Framework - self- and teacher-assessment as well as by educational institutions and examination boards. Language biography (what and where they have studied) - facilitates the learner s involvement in planning and assessing the learning process and progress - promotes plurilingualism Dossier
- provides the learner with the opportunity to select materials to documents - illustrates achievements and experiences of passport or biography in two parts: work version and final version Due to the different presentations of the educational systems in Germany, Poland, Spain, Hungary and France, we can notice that everyone is working on the European Framework or is aware of it. Finland is about to implement the Common European Framework into the new curricula and use it as a common basis in language teaching For more detailed information on ELP, you may consult http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/okl/tokl/eks/finelp/index.html Bibliography - Common European Framework of Reference for Languages : Learning, teaching, assessment / Cambridge University Press, Council of Europe, - European Language Portfolio / Guide for Teachers and Teacher Trainers / D. Little and R. Perclova 8. Trade Union of Teachers in Finland Visit to the Federation of Foreign Language Teachers, Leena Hämäläinen Throughout our visit to Finland we have been searching for explanations to the obvious success of the Finnish education system. There is probably no single clue to it, however, the strong teachers` trade union can be one of the reasons. The interests of those engaged in the teaching profession are represented well. The number of lessons taught a week depend on the workload needed to teach a particular subject (e.g. 15 lessons/ per week for the teaching of the mother tongue, 17 lessons per week for teaching a foreign language, 23 lessons a week in primary education). The number of lessons per week varies according to the different subjects taught. The education system is a combination of freedom and responsibility. Education is decentralised, municipalities have a broad autonomy in making decisions on questions of education. There is no strict control of teachers, the inspection system has been abolished. The National Board of Education has a trust in the municipalities, municipalities have a trust in headmasters, headmasters have a trust in teachers and teachers have a trust in students. Foreign language teachers have their own organisation within the trade union called the Federation of Foreign Language Teachers. This organisation helps teachers in finding a job and organises in-service training for foreign language teachers. The federation is very active in order to influence legislation in the respect of foreign language teaching.
9. Acknowledgement The Arion study visit made it possible for all the participants to get acquainted with the Finnish education system with special emphasis on language teaching. We would like to express our gratitude for the main organisers, the - Centre of International Mobility, thus Ms. Piia Heinämäki - National Board of Education, thus Mr. Kalevi Pohjala, Counsellor of Education and Mr Erik Geber, Ms Claude Anttila, Ms Birkitta Leppänen, Ms Johanna Kokkonen, Mr Rainer Domisch, Ms Minna Prunnila and Ms Anna-Kaisa Mustaparta. We also would like to thank for all the presentations held by the representatives of the different institutions we visited. Thanks to these useful and interesting presentations we acquired information about - the Finnish Education System held by Ms Petra Packalen, National Board of Education) - the publishing of pedagogical materials held by Ms Hannele Mattila and Mr Eero Lehtonen, WSYO) - Bilingual Education in Finland held by Ms Najat Ouakrim-Soivio, French-Finnish Bilingual School, by Carl-Johan Bonn, Swedish Speaking Primary School, by Mr Tapio Erma, Finnish Speaking Secondary School) - Teacher Training in Finland held by Mr Jyrki Loima, Helsinki Second Teacher Training School - Distance Learning in Finland held by Ms Minna Prunnila, National Board of Education - the Federation of Foreign Language Teachers SUKOL in Finland held by Ms Sari Saarinen and Ms Leena Hämäläinen, SUKOL) Both the presentations held by the members of our group and the discussions afterwards contributed to a great extent to getting introduced into the different education and language teaching systems in the different countries. As a whole the group was very active both during and after the official programs by exchanging their experiences, opinions and points of view differing from country to country. All that may contribute to building up a common European identity