Learning beyond borders

Teachers from Finland were in town to share their country’s classroom experience.

FINLAND is known for its flexible education system that has been touted as being the best in the world.

This is something that the Finnish are proud of and want to share with the world.

As part of its efforts to expose local teachers to the Finnish classroom experience, the Embassy of Finland recently held a demonstration classroom at SK Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya.

The class held for local Year Two pupils was conducted by two teachers from Educluster Finland.

Throughout the day, the lucky 38 pupils were given English, Music, Mathematics and Craft lessons - all under the topic of Finnish animals.

There was also a full half an hour break specifically for play and another 30 minutes for a lunch consisting of pea soup, pancakes and fresh fruit.

“The Finnish approach (to education) is individualisation and a student-centred approach,” says teacher Tiina Malste, adding that they allow students to proceed at their own personal speed.

She also says that Finnish teachers have to possess a Master’s qualification and are trained to take each student’s learning style into consideration when designing lesson plans.

“This can lead to having different learning objectives in one class- room and at the end of the year, everybody has different objectives but we make sure they have all reached the ultimate objective for that class,” she explains.

She says although the general learning objectives are defined in the Finnish school curriculum, students might reach those objectives at different speeds, and that is totally acceptable.

“We may lower the standards or make it more challenging depending on that particular student’s talents,” she elaborates.

As an example, during the English lesson in SK Taman Megah, the pupils were given short or long descriptions of the animals that they had to rewrite in their own words.

The teacher, Emmi Herler-Westeråker says the complexity of the passages were given based on what she thought matched the pupil’s command of the language.

Some cards have just single words, another set with just one sentence while others had a four-sentence passage.

“The objective of this lesson was to get to know the animal but at your own level,” she says, adding that the other objective was for them “to learn how to learn.”

If they found the exercise too easy, they had to get a more complex card and rewrite the animal’s description, she elaborates.

“I feel my main task as a teacher is to light fires in each of my students, a fire that is burning for them to learn,” stresses Herler-Westeråker.

Malste says that in Finland, students, teachers and schools are not “ranked”.

In fact, assessments are only done to compare a student’s performance with their performance in the past.

“We only want to compare students with themselves to make sure they are improving.”

Despite there not being any formal written assessment - besides the one national examination at the end of high school - teachers still need to compile enough information before informing the parents and students of their performance.

“The main purpose of school is to prepare the children for life, not for tests,” adds Malste.

On the performance of our local pupils, Herler-Westeråker says they were “brilliant” and could adapt easily to the foreign teaching style thrown at them.

She adds that none of them threw a fuss and said they were not going to take part in the lesson

“They were positive, obedient, open, eager, engaged and lively children,” adds Malste.

SK Taman Megah headmistress Naimah Mohd Nasir says that contrary to popular belief, there are plenty of similarities between the Finnish and Malaysian education system.

“The only difference is that they are more towards fun, action-based and student-focused learning,” she says.

“Our teachers are tasked to be facilitators in the classroom.

“It’s about teaching and facilitating for a 21st century education,” she adds.

“The Finnish are known for having a world-class education,” she says, adding that there is a possibility of incorporating elements of the Finnish classroom locally.

“This is so that the children are happier, have fun and are more relaxed while teaching and learning is going on.”

Naimah says she likes how the pupils were made to get involved in the lesson and were not allowed to be passive throughout the sessions.

They really enjoyed it, she adds. Parents observing the demonstration were just as impressed with the Finnish teaching style.

The school’s Parent-teacher Association committee member Rekha Dutt found it fascinating that there was a lot of two-way interaction between the teachers and the pupils.

There was also a lot of exploration and the lessons piqued the children’s curiosity, she adds, referring to the music lesson when the pupils had to guess what instrument was in a sack before they were allowed to play with it.

“I also found it interesting that they merged the English and Music lessons together.

Dutt also says that “it was a welcome change” to see the pupils leave their books outside and use teaching aids such as coloured paper, ice-cream sticks and macaroni shells to learn instead.

The 38 pupils only had one small booklet to guide them throughout the day.

“This programme allowed the children to see a different side of education. They saw that they could also learn through playing,” she says.

The exposure to Finnish animals and stories will also benefit the pupils by exposing them to a world beyond Malaysian borders.

“It’s a privilege for them to be part of this.”

Overall, Dutt says the Finnish has a good system that allows one to express themselves.

“I think that’s very important because you don’t want to mould everybody in a cookie-cutter system.

“We want them to be their own person as well because everyone has something to contribute in this world.”