Use of ICT Tools in Basic Education in Europe: Case Study from Finland General information about NBE Kaisa Vähähyyppä Councellor of Education Finnish National Board of Education

Finland (Finnish name Suomi) is a republic which became a member of the European Union in 1995. Its population is 5.3 million. The capital Helsinki has 561 000 residents. Finland is an advanced industrial economy: the metal, engineering and electronics Industries account for about 60 % of export revenues, the forest products Industry for about 20 %. Finland is one of the leading countries in Internet use. Today, there are more mobile phone than fixed network subscriptions.

Finland December at noon

THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION IN FINLAND Ministry of Education Universities Finnish National Board of Education Polytechnics State Provincial Offices Ministry of education makes the education policy for the whole country and of course gives us the orders and advices for our work. In the ministry they are also doing the legislation work. The ministry lead also the universities and polytecnics. Our work in NBE is to develope education on the grassroot level. We are doing the national curricula for all subjects and we do national evaluation and have some information services. Of course there are very many other tasks also but those are the main tasks. Education providers Educational institutions

THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION agreement on results for a period of 3 years Ministry of Education educational policy legislation Finnish National Board of Education national core curricula developmental work national evaluation information services

FINNISH NATIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION - TASKS National core curricula - preprimary, primary, secondary, upper secondary general, upper secondary vocational education and competence-based vocational qualifications Evaluation - performance tests Developmental work - support nationally important aims of educational policy in close co-operation with the providers We have national tests but of course there are many other international tests also like Pisa. - develops education. Finnish National Board of Education (NBE) draws up core curricula for basic and upper secondary education, the framework for vocational qualifications and competence-based qualifications, and undertakes various projects to develop education Right now we have started to work with educational environments . That includes elerning of course but also local environments like all kinds of cultural intitutions etc, physical environments the most important of those is of course the school bulding itself. How is it possible to use that as educationla tool. Social and didactic environments belong in that also.

ICT in schools Equipping schools with computers Networking schools Organizing teachers’ in-service training Developing teaching methods Virtual school project 2000-2006 Developing Learning Environments

ICT in education Schools are assumed to create their own ICT strategy as part of their local curriculum All schools have access to internet Most schools have high speed network communication

Developing learning environments FNBE awards state grants to development of learning environments The amount of grants is approximately 5 million euros/year Next application round spring 2009 ICT should become a natural part of daily work

Aspects of learning environments LOCAL SOCIAL Didactic-pedagogical TECHNICAL PHYSICAL

Aspects of learning environments Local libraries cultural organisations communities associations sports organisations homes ….

Aspects of learning environments Local libraries Cultural organisations communities associations sports organisations homes …. Where should ICTs be? Positioning (gps) tasks before and after visits measuring reporting keeping contact …

Aspects of learning environments Physical school building, school yard, furniture, placement of furniture .... learning while playing ICT outside- Yes!

Aspects of learning environments Technical learning on the Net themes of learning mobile learning positioning systems virtual worlds games Facebook SecondLife IRC Gallery Wikipedia blogs, wikis Flicr…

Aspects of learning environments Social the social network within which learning takes place. Social learning environments are influenced by all people (teachers, students, school staff, parents) who take part in the learning situation, as well as by the interaction between these people. Simultaneous enthusiasm to learn! → creative atmosphere Creativity is a game of the mind – give it the space it needs!

ICT projects – things has been done already In-service training for teachers and head teachers 1999-2005 Three levels: Ope.fi I (Ope=”Teacher”) - every teacher must master the basic ICT skills (word processing, email, etc) Ope.fi II Most of the teachers must master the skills using ICT id education Ope.fi III - about 20 % of the teachers must master a specialized knowledge on ICT so called experts

ICT projects – things has been done already Virtual Scool- project 1999- 2006 Part of the national Information Society project ICT projects at schools, mostly finacied by the State - best practices colleted into one portal edu.fi maintained by FNBE OpettajaTV = TeacherTV 2007 - - co-operation project between Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) and FNBE - TV series for in-service training and courses on the net - materials connected to Yle’s so called living archive

ICT in Schools project 2008-2010 The project is carried out by Ministry of Transport and Communications (co-ordination), Ministry of Education and National Board of Education and in co-operation with industry and commerce.   1) Pedagogical practices of ICT for teaching and learning  2) Media culture in formal and informal learning environments  3) ICT mediated interaction, team work and competencies  4) ICT tools, infrastructure and usability 12 pilotschools selected at November 2008

Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies Know-how – the Power of Art and Skill The project creates a framework for learning arts and crafts, increasing social interaction and consolidating teamwork skills in an online environment. The project applies a range of online working methods: online learning platforms, knowledge-building using Wiki tools, learning blogs, and image, music and video galleries or online exhibitions with a view to strengthening an operational culture based on shared expertise and networking at educational institutions. How to use the Museum from distance? Is it possible to add new Inventions to the Museum site?

Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies Get a Move On! The Get a Move On! project involves three lower secondary schools and five upper secondary schools from different part of the country , which produce information about the environment from the perspective of different subjects (geography, chemistry, social studies, visual arts and health/physical education) and cross-curricular themes, using mobile learning methods. The project commercialises learning pathways directed at school groups, a GIS learning environment and operating model in co-operation with Science Centre, Marine Nature Centre and the PaikkaOppi GIS Learning Portal project.

Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies Writing to Read – the Trageton Method Five schools will start to apply the method developed by Norwegian Arne Trageton to teach Finnish-speaking children to read and write. Through this method, children will learn to read and write on a computer and by hand at the same time. Computers will also enable those pupils with motor difficulties in writing to grasp productive writing skills more quickly.

Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies GIS Learning Portal The PaikkaOppi project creates an open geographical information systems (GIS) learning portal, which allows students and teachers to browse various centrally administered background materials (including base maps, weather satellite images, soil/bedrock maps, nature reserves, the road network, GPS navigation). The portal enables students, classes and different schools to co-operate in different subjects or with joint environmental themes.

Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies   Information and Safety from the Web In this project pilot schools’ project, pupils and teachers join forces to put Web communication and instant messaging tools to use at school, produce new contents and transfer peer support practices into a virtual learning environment. Web use will be extended to pupil welfare services and school well-being efforts.

Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies Almost 400 learning environment project going on – ´partly financed by FNBE International case: eTwinning - European Schools Project in Finland connects schools and teachers from all countries in eTwinning projects. About 1000 schools from Finland is participating eTwinning already

Materials FNBE has created a guide to the web 2.0 for teachers – free for all (only in Finnish and Swedish) edu.fi KenGURU a material for teachers- how to use ICT in a pedagogical way on lessons. KenGuru is made especially for selfstudies edu.fi

Thank you! C Contact information: Kaisa Vähähyyppä Councellor of Education, Head of Unit kaisa.vahahyyppa@oph.fi