Vaasa - Vasa
Vaasa is on the West coast of Finland. It is the regional capital of Ostrobothnia, and it is a well-known university and college city in Finland.
We have spent the first three days of our journey in this town, mainly visiting Vasa Övningsskola.
Vasa Övningsskola
Vasa Övningsskola comprises basic education and upper-secondary school education and is located at two different addresses in the centre of Vaasa. In total, 950 children and teenagers receive their education in the school by a team of 120 teachers and staff. Additionally, over 400 teacher students per year do their supervised teacher training at this school. It is a university school and part of Åbo Akademi University. https://www.abo.fi/vos/en/
During our visit, we met with the Leading principal as well as with the principals of the different Schools, with science and technology teachers, with IT-educators, and many more. Markus Norrby, lecturer of physics at Vasa Övningsskola, took part in the Makerspaces course we did in Berlin as part of this Erasmus+ project. It was there where we met him, and we decided it would be interesting to visit their makerspaces and exchange ideas on how to improve our rooms/materials and how we use them.
Day 1
The main objectives for this first day of visit were the following:
- Presenting our schools and our different educational systems
- Finding similarities and differences between our two school projects
- Visiting the facilities (specially the different maker spaces -textile, arts, wood, technology…-)
- Spending some time observing different classes
- Having a general idea on how they work
- Seeing the different resources they use (devices, apps, books…)
Learning about the Finnish educational system
Kids start Preschool when they're 6 years old. Some may start the year before (5 yo)
During Preschool, kids still don't learn how to read, write, or do maths. The main objective is for them to learn how to identify and handle their emotions, how to live with others...
Comprehensive education consists of 9 years, starting when kids are 7yo
The Finnish curriculum states that during Comprehensive education, all students must learn how to work with textiles, wood, ceramics and metals, as this is part of the Finnish culture/tradition
Upper secondary education is also free, even if it's not compulsory. It ends after the students are 18 yo
Lunch is free of charge and given by the school every day
There are no specific schools for pupils with special needs. Resources are given to "regular" schools so that they can help the students who require them
The Finnish educational system ensures that all students around the country receive the same quality of education
Learning about the school
Swedish is the 1st language in the school
From 1st to 6th grades, one of the groups has English as the language for learning (they follow the CLIL methodology). They are organized in three different "grades" or classes: 1st+2nd, 3rd+4th, 5th+6th
They have very few students per class (when compared to what we are used to in Catalonia): around 16 in Comprehensive School, around 20 in Upper Secondary School
Day 2
The main objectives of this second day of visit were:
- Meeting with the IT-educator and understanding his role/job
- Seeing the different software they use
- Observing how they work with textiles
- Spending time in the CLIL classrooms
- Meeting to reflect on the visit and plan future collaborations
What draw our attention?
Working with textiles
It is so "natural" for them to work with wood and textiles that they don't really consider it as an innovative way of learning.
They trust kids when using pins, scissors, sawing machines... Accidents happen, but with a low ratio of students and a relaxed environment everything goes better.
Online portfolio
They use Seesaw, an app shared by students, teachers, and families.
It is similar to Google Classroom: you can post task instructions, upload pictures of what they are doing… but it is also considered as a portfolio, with space for students to write short comments about what they have done.
IT-educator
He helps teachers finding the software/app/resource that can best help them to develop their proposals. He mainly gives support to them, although he can also help students in specific moments.
Working with wood
They start in 3rd grade
They are not afraid of giving tools to their younger students
Extra help
Asking a retired teacher or member of a student's family to help in this space is a good way of adding an extra adult during the activities
Comprehensive school Classrooms
Almost every classroom has a different type of furniture. At first sight they might all look different, but they have in common:
There is a meeting area in the centre of the classroom (usually with sofas)
There are individial desks but also a couple of larger desks for group work
Screens have substituted white/blackboards, which are no longer used
Teacher's desk (inside the classroom)
Each classroom has a teachers desk where they have all their materials. From there, they control the class and project on the screen using a camera
Teachers' lounge area and workspace
They have different spaces for teachers, a lounge to relax and have breaks, and offices and meeting rooms where they could work.
Lounge areas for students
All around the school you can find many lounges for the older students to meet, relax...
This, plus the fact that corridors are wide, gives students enough space for them to move around without annoying each other. Less conflicts and a more relaxed atmosphere!
CLIL
The classrooms for those students who learn in English are located at a specific part of the building, one next to the other.
Everything around them is in English and, from what we saw, they don't have too much contact with the other students.
Textbooks and other materials
We were told that teachers have the freedom to choose what textbook they want to use for their subjects.
Lunchtime
Grades 1-6 students can eat lunch in the dining room or in class. From 7 to 9th grade they all eat in the dining room. They use trays and their lunch consists of a main dish + bread & butter.
Atmosphere
Although students freely move from one classroom to another, or to the playground, or to the dining room..., the school is clean and tidy, there is no rushing, and the volume of the kids' voices is not loud.
Makerspaces and STEAM classrooms
They have several makerspaces as well as specific classrooms for Music, Arts and Crafts (textiles, ceramics, metals...)