This story began when the Brazilian government, seeing the great educational potential of Finland as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as one of the world's leading countries in academic performance, promoted the VET - Teachers for the Future Programme, a partnership between the Ministry of Education (MEC) from Brazil, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Finnish educational institutions. The programme focused on the training of Brazilian teachers to work with educational innovation.
The first group of the VET - Teachers for the Future Programme began in 2014, lasted five months and trained 45 teachers who studied at HAMK and TAMK Applied Science Universities. The following year, a further 36 teachers were trained, during five months, the training was also occurring on the HAMK and TAMK Universities. The third, and last class, trained 48 teachers, who graduated from HAMK and TAMK Universities in 2016.
VET - Teachers for the Future Programme - Cohort I (2014)
VET - Teachers for the Future Programme - Cohort II (2015)
VET - Teachers for the Future Programme - Cohort III (2016)
I had the privilege of studying at Hamk University in the third class of the VET - Teachers for the Future Programme. So I had my first contact with Finnish education and culture. I came to Finland with a lot of expectations about what I would learn and about how education was able to change the country. And really, it was an amazing experience. It was three months of intense learning; many visits to schools and companies; learning by doing; new friendships; partnerships and many challenges during the programme.
VET - Teachers For The Future Programme - Cohort III - Learning by Doing
VET - Teachers For The Future Programme - Cohort III - Moments of Integration
In Finland I learned that "Less is More"; that resilience is an important feature of education and life; and discovered what is "Sisu," a Finnish concept that represents determination, tenacity of purpose, courage, bravery, and resilience. This was a watershed for me, forever changing my view on life, education and my pedagogical doing.
VET-teachers For The Future Programme - Cohort III - Last Day of Class
However, this experience and enchantment with the country's education and culture did not stop during my participation in the VET - Teachers for the Future Programme. In August 2017 I had the privilege of being invited to return to Finland and participate in the Finnish Teacher Trainer Diploma Program (FiTT), which lasted a month and was done at the Universities of HAMK and TAMK.
Finnish Teacher Trainer Diploma Program (FiTT) - Celebrating Learning and Friendship
In this new phase of learning, I had the opportunity to deepen in the concepts related to the construction of competences and in the mission to propose a course to multiply the principles of the training of Finnish teachers to be realized in Brazil.
Finnish Teacher Trainer Diploma Program (FiTT) - Meeting Old Friends and Making New Friends
Again, I immersed myself in the culture, in the way of teaching and learning of the Finnish people. I made new friends, reviewed old friends, and this new group created a network of teacher trainers based on an out-of-the-box curriculum.
Finnish Teacher Trainer Diploma Program (FiTT) - Learning by doing
We have passed from seed to seeders of a new generation of teacher trainers in the future. Then, BraFF (Brazilian Forming Trainers) is born. For the latter one we created a competency-based curriculum "out of the box"!
Finnish Teacher Trainer Diploma Program (FiTT) - Seeders of a New Generation of Teacher Trainers
Finnish Teacher Trainer Diploma Program (FiTT) - BraFF is
Finnish Teacher Trainer Diploma Program (FiTT) - Competency-based Curriculum "Out Of The Box"
During this period, the ties of cooperation between the University of Applied Sciences of HAMK and the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (Ifes) were strengthened with the signing of an agreement of academic and scientific cooperation that began to have its first results with my return to Finland to do a one-year postdoctoral internship from October 2018 to September 2019 at this university.
HAMK 2017 - Signing of the Hamk and Ifes Cooperation Agreement
Today, I have the privilege of being part of the research team of the Hamk Edu Research Unit, specifically working with the great Global Education group. Now, this allows me to have a new vision of the educational process, pass from being an enchanted student to researcher of the process.
HAMK 2018 - Welcome reception in Hamk
All of these experiences have broadened my view of the world and of what it is to be an educator. Today I am proud to say:
I'm an educator by choice, in love with what I do!
Autor:
Marize Lyra Silva Passos, professora titular e pesquisadora do Centro de Referência em Formação e em Educação (Cefor) do Instituto Federal do Espírito Santo (Ifes).
Seus focos de interesse são metodologias ativas de aprendizagem, uso de técnologias na educação e educação a distância.
e-mail: marize@ifes.edu.br
website: https://marizepassos.com/
Como referênciar:
PASSOS, M. L. S. Culture and education in Finland: a story of enchantment. Página Marize Passos, 15 mar. 2019. Disponível em: https://www.marizepassos.com/post/culture-and-education-in-finland-a-story-of-enchantment . Acessado em: 30 ago. 2019.