Personal and Cultural Development
This week I rediscovered my love for winter by going sledging. I have never embraced outdoor winter activities until now, and I shall certainly be doing it again! I felt rather embarrassed that there were very young children zooming past me, while I was standing terrified at the top of the snow hill, praying that I wouldn’t injure a small child while I attempt to steer myself at top speed in what is essentially just a piece of plastic. The sledging hill >>>>>
After about an hour of this, I finally learned how to navigate myself away from any danger. It is interesting to note at this point that the Finnish children have no fear, and even at school they will use their sledges to slide down the playground, or skate on the ice. I believe there is a family insurance system that means if a child falls at school, for example, there is no suing culture that holds the school liable like there would be in the UK.
My cultural development this week has been enhanced beyond belief, particularly through my Multicultural Education and Finnish language modules. Just from talking to the people in my classes, my eyes have been opened to a multitude of perspectives particularly in relation to different education systems. I’ve been exposed to cultures from China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Germany, Romania, Canada, Spain, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. My Finnish language course is proving to be a challenge, but I’m hoping that the Finns that I know will help me with the aspects of the language that I find difficult. Furthermore, I have been meeting the neighbours (shown in picture) and getting to know their cultures from USA and Switzerland. Some of us are finding the lack of sunlight/daylight in Finland an interesting experience, forcing us to adjust our sleeping and eating habits in order to cope. The test is accepting that it is all a learning curve, and nothing helps you learn better than experience. Professional Development
It seems that everybody that has come to study in Finland views the education system here as the inspiration for the rest of the world. These views mainly stem from Finland’s consistently high performance in the PISA rankings, something I had never heard of until I came here. The PISA rankings show how each country performs in reading, mathematics and science, and Finland is used to coming out top, or at least among the top five, in the world. This doesn’t have any significance in the UK from my impression, since neither I nor my English friends on ERASMUS here, had ever heard of PISA before. Northern Ireland is considered as part of the UK in PISA and levels at an average performance. It would be interesting to investigate this further to see how N.I. actually compares to England, Scotland and Wales, and subsequently, to the rest of the world. Would it be any different to the results shown now as part of the UK? I am currently in a dilemma of whether I should do a dissertation or modules next year, but topics such as this one, and the comparison of religious education in different countries, really interest me and inspire me to investigate further. On the other hand, some of the modules available for fourth year genuinely appeal to me, so the dilemma continues! However, dissertations, Master theses, and general research are considered of fundamental importance in teacher training in Finland, with research method modules of a prominent feature throughout the degree programmes.
<<<< The facilities in schools are of an extremely high standard, especially considering all education here is free. This H.E. classroom in a high school even has a dishwasher!
Professionally, it has been motivating to learn the approaches to inclusion that happen here. The parental partnership in place is an inspiration. The role of the parents changed in Finland with the change in curriculum in 2004. Now, the parents have a vital role in determining the individual school curriculum their children are attending, participating in an active, collaborative and co-operative manner. Because the parents actually help decide what should be taught, it becomes a shared accountability system for the children’s learning. Despite this, it seems that many European countries are tackling the same issue in education of immigrant children and integrating them into classrooms. Here though, there is a possibility to be educated in your mother tongue if there are enough children, then Finnish can be learnt as a second language. The education system is very flexible in that sense. The Finnish government recognise language as a crucial aspect of culture; therefore give immigrants the right to preserve their own native language as far as possible.
I took the opportunity this week to compare a huge part of the culture in Northern Ireland to its impact in Finland: religion. This is an area of significant interest to me, and I was eager to learn the part religion has to play in Finnish culture and society. A lecturer informed me that it has very little influence on society here, but is considered a highly private and personal aspect of life. As a result, most Finns would feel awkward talking about it, and would most certainly find Northern Ireland strangely different in comparison. In discussion with some of Emmi’s Finnish friends, it was clear that they couldn’t understand the emphasis put on religion in Northern Ireland, especially since 80% of the people in Finland are Protestant but do not actively attend church or practise any kind of worship. In my mind, diversity is readily accepted here with less of a struggle than it seems to be back home.
'The best way to create silence among Finns is to ask them to speak!'
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