Curricula

Objectives

The purpose of the course

This course will introduce you with the Finnish educational system, institutional steering and planning systems within vocational and professional education and higher education, and relevant legislation. It is important to know these things, which are the key determinants of a teacher's work, for example, in terms of the legal security of yourself and your students. You will also look at opportunities to develop professional learning and deepen your development skills.

Course competences

In this course you will develop your future orientation, developmental skills and reflection skills.

Future orientation refers to
- teachers being involved in creating the future for VET learning, working life and society by investigating and critically analysing existing practices and structures.
- the courage to rethink and support the development of social equality, democracy and human rights.

Developmental skills refers to:
- Teachers’ ability to further develop their own and their organisation’s practices in collaboration with others.
- The ability to develop VET learning, working life and entrepreneurship at the regional, national and international levels by working in partner networks.

Reflection skills means
- Teachers’ ability to recognise and critically assess their values, attitudes, ethical principles and work methods as a facilitator of learning.

The learning objectives

You will understand the Finnish national education system and the guidance and planning systems related to vocational education and higher education. You are aware of the opportunities and future directions of professional learning and competence development. You are also aware of the role that international co-operation has in the everyday operations of the institutions and how they are implemented.

Content

National education system, guidance system for vocational and higher education, legislation, strategies and policies governing the activities of educational institutions

Teaching methods

The course is implemented as online studies. It consists of self-directed learning, prescribed reading, learning circle work and individual learning assignments. You will find the learning materials and assignments in the online learning environment.

Practical training and working life connections

You can make use of VET networks and experts in doing learning tasks (e.g. through interviews).

International connections

During this course, you will also become acquainted with the importance of international activities in the everyday life of educational institutions and the types of activities that are used to implement them.

Alternative completion methods

Acquiring competence:

You can acquire the competence required by this course by participating on the online course and doing the learning tasks.

You may have already acquired or be currently acquiring the competence required by this course in your own work in vocational education.

Demonstrating competence:

You can demonstrate the competence required by this course by completing the learning assignments and reflection tasks in an approved manner.

You can also demonstrate your competence for this course through the recognition of prior learning. To recognise your prior competence and learning, read the learning outcomes, assessment criteria and learning tasks for this course. Assess your own competence in relation to them. Create materials that demonstrate that you already possess the competence required by this course. Write a report for the assessment of the materials, justifying how the materials demonstrate that your competence matches that required by the course. Send the accreditation application, your materials and your report to the tutor of this course for your prior competence to be recognised and assessed.

Student workload

In total, the course consists of 216 hours (8 x 27h) of students’ work. It consists of reading, searching for materials, reflecting on and working on learning assignments independently and with the learning circles.

Content scheduling

The course starts right at the beginning of your studies and lasts throughout your studies.

Further information for students

The assessment is qualitative and is based on learning objectives. The methods for evaluation of the learning process are feedback and self-assessment. Competence assessment is based on criteria and the teacher educator makes the assessment decision once all the learning tasks have been completed. The assessment material consists of the learning tasks (tasks 1-3) of the course and self-assessment tasks (task 4).

Evaluation scale

Pass/Fail

Evaluation criteria, pass/failed

The criteria for assessing the approved level are as follows:

Developmental skills:
By collaborating, you anticipate the challenges of developing education and actively look for solutions to them.

Future Orientation:
You know the legislation of vocational and higher education and the significance of its application for the student, the work of a teacher, the development of working life and the organizer of education.

Reflection skills:
You critically examine changes in a teacher's operating environment at different levels of the education system, utilizing your own experiences.