I am currently on a three week adventure in Finland where I will be visiting several different schools to get an inside look at the very coveted Finnish education system! During this adventure I will post my observations, insights and adventures to this page to keep you updated as to what is happening in education up here in this northern corner of the world!

I choose to do an international CFE because I want to take a close look at the education system in Finland. The Finnish system is one of the top rated in the world and I would like to introduce some of their innovative and remarkable education techniques into Canada. I am expecting to find a very different model of education than I have come across in Canada. So during this experience I am hoping to learn what aspects we are missing to transform our education system from adequate to extraordinary. I am feeling very excited to see and experience this amazing country and look forward to being able to converse with teachers about what makes their classroom experience so amazing and effective!

INQUIRY

During my 10 week practicum my line of inquiry was about the integration of Aboriginal education in Technology Education.That is not something that I am able to transfer and look at during my time here in Finland. I am wanting to to take a close look at how the Finnish school day is structured and if it is this structure that gives them such effective learning. I am also very interested in exploring the Finnish dedication to education. In terms of access to education and the impact that that access has on the nation. I will be taking a look at elementary schools in my first week, secondary schools in the second and hopefully take a look at what post secondary school looks like in Finland during the third week.

THE SCHOOL

I will be spending the first week of my CFE at Kyrkoby Skola. It is a small elementary school in the community of Vantaa, Finland located just outside of Helsinki. It is a small school although it is not in a rural community but located in the center of Vantaa. However it is one of the three Swedish speaking schools in Vantaa. The Swedish speaking community in Finland is quite small and are located mainly in Vantaa. These students however speak at least three languages mainly, Swedish, Finnish and English. Krykoby is smallest of the three schools having only 50 students grades 1-6.  The other two Swedish schools have around 100-150 students. The non Swedish speaking schools have somewhat higher numbers around 300 students from grades 1-6. However the class sizes remain the same across all the schools anywhere between 15-20 students per class.

Krykoby has two school buildings (one of them is the oldest school house in Finland built in 1837). A second building as added in 2008 as the school population outgrew the main one.