After approx. 30 hrs of flights, all on time and surprisingly
comfortable, I’ve arrived in beautiful Helsinki and ready to start my study
tour.
My schedule is very full already and my first meeting is
booked for 1230 just 6hrs after landing, Jetlag will have to be postponed!
Helsinki is a lovely harbour side city dating back to the
late 1700-early 1800’s.It was partly modeled on the architecture of St
Petersburg, the result is a stylish modern city with no skyscrapers that is laid
out logically with great public transport and very easy to walk between most of
the inner city locations.
The people are obviously affluent, well-educated and
stylish. I am very impressed with how warm and hospitable the people
are. They have been incredibly helpful to this poor lost Aussie guy and it is
always easy to find someone to offer directions.
First
Study Tour Meeting
Mari.Kontturi and Marjut
Huttunen invited me to a lunch meeting at the historic and famous Kappeli
restaurant.
Mari
is the Manager of International Affairs at Luovi
and Marjut is the quality manager.
Mari is also the European Vice President
of IVETA. IVETA
(International Vocational Education and Training Association) is a network of
vocational educators. The
network includes vocational skills training organizations, business and
industrial firms, and other individuals and groups interested or involved in
vocational education and training worldwide. IVETA is dedicated to the
advancement and improvement of high-quality vocational education and training
throughout the world.
Discussion
points:
·
Industry
committees contribute to identifying training needs and help to develop the vocational
upper secondary education. The Government decides on the general goals of
vocational education and training, the structure of qualifications, and the
core subjects. The Ministry of Education and Culture decides on the studies and
their scope.
·
The
qualification requirement system of vocational education and training consists
of the national qualification requirement, each education provider's locally
approved curricula and the students' personal study plans.
·
Students
typically VET start at age 16 after completing comprehensive school
·
Some
students finish at VET college then apply for a applied university to continue
their studies. Mari and Marjut did not know of any articulated or integrated
pathway programs with formalised agreements between Vet colleges and
universities
·
We
discussed organisations and systems to support collaboration across Europe.
Countries and colleges seem to be very willing to collaborate but while common
EU standards are starting to develop this is still a work in process.
o The Erasmus+
exchange program is very valuable exchange program- Erasmus+ is the EU's
program to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. Its budget
of €14.7 billion will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to
study, train gain experience, and volunteers abroad.
o EPale collaboration stories site
- EPALE is a multilingual open membership community for teachers, trainers,
researchers, academics, policy makers and anyone else with a professional role
in adult learning across Europe. Community is at the heart of EPALE. It is set
up around the sharing of content related to adult learning, including news,
blog posts, resources, and events and courses. EPALE is funded by the European
Commission, as the latest development in an ongoing commitment to improving the
quality of adult learning provision in Europe.
o Cedefop in the EU leads research and
policy - Cedefop supports development of European vocational education and
training (VET) policies and contributes to their implementation. The agency is
helping the European Commission, EU Member States and the social partners to
develop the right European VET policies. Cedefop: helping develop the right
policies to provide the right skills
o Many teachers would not be
aware of these collaboration tools as teachers are focused on teaching but managers
develop updates and sessions to keep teachers involved
·
VET
teachers working conditions seem to be similar to Australia:
o Teachers seem to have similar
wages and conditions
o There are more teachers than teaching
roles, teaching is a very valued and respected profession
o My role as a Head Teacher generated lots of discussion as Managers of teachers don't
teach.
· Discussed
the peer
review system briefly but I need to come back to this with more questions
later.
·
Assessment
is very different in Finland compared to Australia. It appears that assessment
decisions are made in a panel structure and not by in assessor in isolation
from industry. Students’ learning and competence are always assessed in terms
of the vocational skills requirements and assessment criteria determined within
the relevant National Core Curriculum. Students’ learning is assessed by giving
verbal or written feedback on the progress of their studies. Assessment of
competence forms the basis for awarding grades for all qualification units on
students’ certificates, using the following three-step grading scale:
Satisfactory 1, Good 2, and Excellent 3.
o Usually employers will sit in
on a panel for assessment
o Employers of workplace
students typically have done a preparation course to prepare them to manage and
contribute to the assessment of their students
o Auditing is more quality
focused and not as detailed or targeted as Australian ASQA focused audits
Summary
A
huge day but absolutely fascinating. I am very impressed with the
professionalism and hospitality of the Finnish people, can’t wait for tomorrow
and my visit to the Helsinki Business College.
We finished the day with a lovely stroll around some of the Helsinki Harbour sites before crashing into bed early.
I'm very grateful to Mari and Marjut, they have been perfect hosts.
I'm very grateful to Mari and Marjut, they have been perfect hosts.
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