Ubuntu – an African meaning that also exists in Finland and Germany

This travelling fellowship has given me an opportunity to re-evaluate my own leadership mindset about partnerships and collaborations in 21st century Britain. I started off with an idea of what I was going to experience and learn, but actually came away with an ability to reflect clearly on what Desmond Tutu often refers to as “Ubuntu”. This African word is difficult to translate but means that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole community. When you do well, it spreads out, it is for the whole community. In modern Britain, we too need to ensure that Ubuntu lives in our communities as this is how we can prepare and support our young people for their future, addressing our socio-economic challenges and building equity within our society.

Investing in our future – our children, what does this mean? My travels to Finland, Germany and Brazil defined clarity on how education must not be viewed in isolation to the economic, social and political culture that we fit into

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”

Preparing our young people for Britain’s future requires a re-build and a re-think of the structures that guide and support our young people into adulthood. The pace of change as well as the complexities of growing up in our modern British society is leaving far too many young people behind and creating disconnections in our communities. We cannot ignore facts such as one million young people are not learning or earning, mental health trends are alarming, family structures have changed, social media, marketing and socialising dominate young people’s lives in ways that we never imagined – this is what we are faced with. My visit to Finland crystallised how important and essential it is that our society’s ambition needs to be about investing in our most valuable resource – our children. When I started my Winston Churchill journey and visits to various settings, my initial focus was primarily on exploring high quality vocational educational routes, what I soon realised was that in modern first world societies, we need to go back to the beginning. The plethora of what is available for a young child/person is challenging to access, leaving parents, children and communities disconnected and in far too many cases, children are left behind. To prepare for 21st century economies, we need to prepare parents for the greatest challenge they will encounter – bringing up their child in their community.

Education in Brazil…first I start with understanding Brazil’s history. What an incredible journey they have been on so far.

Brazil has been wonderfully welcoming, and people that I have met are so generous with their time to talk about their education, their country. In this case, it has been wonderful to connect with like minded educationalist, humanitarians, people who want to make a difference for their communities, for children. I met a very special lady Maria Cristina Bergonsini Ennser, who is an Educational Resercher at the University of Sao Paolo. Cristina, was instrumental in giving me the bigger picture, i.e. starting with Brazilian history, to enable my understanding of education today. So here goes…Brazil is a very new country, it is about 500 years old. The abolition and evolution of slavery started in 1889, but in essence the nature of these people’s lives, ie. living conditions and work did not change. Unlike the abolition in the US, where blacks continued to experience racial but not economical segregation as they did start receiving salaries. Brazilian blacks continued to work symbolically. Education at this stage was only available to the privileged minorities, and so the state education at the time was of a high standard.

The current constitution was established in 1988, where for the first time education was made compulsory for ALL. Up until this point, education was available to the few families that could financially sustain themselves, mainly the white middle classes and above. The new constitution made it obligatory for all children to go to school at the age of 7 to the age of 14, ie. 8 years in education. It was only in 2010 that this was changed to starting at the age of 6. Nursery education remains a privilege to the few that can afford this.

The ministry of education (MEC) regulates education and has established the law regarding education needs and requirements, including the parameters of the curriculum from Ensino Fundamental 1, and 2, i.e. from the age of 6 to 14. Although an ambition for all children to be accessing education, the reality means that there are many regional differences, dialogue and interpretations can be challenging, so consistency across the country remains a dream. When one considers the vastness of this country and compares communities, for eg. in the Amazon with so many indigenous and Nomad groups, schooling takes place on a boat, which are mobile, so children might access a couple of hours in a week. In large cities like Sao Paolo on the other hand, in certain communities, numbers are so huge, that school is broken down into three components and children are allocated one of those slots. School runs from 7-12; or 13-17.30 or 19-23. I understand that where possible primary is kept to mornings.

Finland with Attitude

How serious are we about our children? Do we want to be part of the BIG 5…

Finland focuses on early intervention, preventative measures, building strong foundations, and over time you can loosen up…they are ready to fly alone.

It seems that the Finnish want can be simply summed up as “Our main aim is to have a good school education system”. But surely all of us want that right? We all understand that at the core of any successful society, children must be central to our planning and preparedness for the future…is that what we do? The Finnish attitude is that children must Play,Play, and Play, hence starting school at the age of seven. Attitudes towards mothers are that of respect and great value, hence significant support, after all happy mothers create happy children. Women generally in Finland are highly esteemed with something like 47% of ministerial positions being occupied by women. So education…the focus is all about children, not data, control and statistics:

-early years is heavily invested in

-special educational needs is a core element of teacher training, after all if you are going to be working with young people you need to be able to recognise who and where they are: you know them, you see them…

-health and well being work very closely in partnership with schools

All of this is wrapped around learning and partnership work with families, with a clear aim to secure the maximum potential of every child. This is achieved by personalising education for children, by securing high quality education support and guidance. Teacher training secures teachers knowledge on child development and understanding on how children learn. The cultural attitude towards teachers being high trust, respect and collaboration this means that every teacher is a leader of children’s learning, with every child of compulsory school age receiving high quality education and support. Finland is a country where wealth does not guarantee education learning outcomes….this is how serious children are valued.

Mobile learning technology at Espo – Cutting edge developments within vocational learning

Pete Stockley is the strategic lead for mobile learning developments at InnoOmnia. Pete tells me that with the ever increasing pace of technology, real learning very often gets lost with gizzmos. Pete’s  team spend time with teachers interpreting the learning and pedagogy that they want students to experience in the various vocational courses. The team then  translated the needs and match technology to the desired learning outcomes, working collaboratively with teaching staff. Pete also states that it does take time to win hearts and minds of teachers, as their development within this framework is exponential. Teachers have started to move from the traditional report writing assessments to using devices where communication becomes dynamic, using multimedia to enrich the students experience and expose.

End of project assignments have now developed into presentations that include cameras, video, integrated apps, message services. Even group projects have enhanced creativity and qulaity of output. For example, in a project with three students, communication and student feedback is now based on students working together with blogging tools, where students post blogs to provide feedback, including inviting different groups to contribute to reviews, etc. The teacher also provides blogging feedback throughout the project development, with minimal amount of traditional feedback. Other enhancements are calss evaluations, peer critiquing other students work, this type of peer feedback has proved to be very powerful and motivating. Pete’s team take on the responsibility of training the teacher, who then trains students. Pete say’s that teachers are the ones who start with the project ideas, and that his role is to animate it with technology.

 

When the college introduced this concept, it was managed by initially inviting teachers that were keen to develop this type of work, rather than a department wide process, or school wide process. This has been key as the college felt that building staff confidence was the initial priority. Pete acknowledges that this way of working does push teachers out of their comfort zone, and that teachers can have the tendency to be resistant, mainly because of their fear of getting things wrong with students. This creative way of working with technology enables teachers to teach initially the basics but then technology allows students to be expansive, just like an art student – so teachers need to build their confidence that they no longer need to know the answers, but more about their ability to step back and be willing to learn further themselves.

Pete says that this type of learning gives students the opportunity to be truly creative and add real depth to learning, quoting Issac Newton “If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants“. What I found so exciting was also that the college is now at a point where students portfolios are catalogued centrally, enabling new students to instead of starting a project from ground zero, students are able to look at previous projects and choose to build on these further, i.e either sideways or further in. The teachers role being to guide experimentation, a bit like a chemistry teacher, if you know its going to blow up, you prevent it. This type of development has been equally powerful in the field of studying mathematics.

The teachers challenge is to have the confidence and willingness to get it wrong, and constantly pushing themselves further, even getting involved in doing joint projects with students.

At the college, companies rent out office space so the college environment has tutors, students and professionals, which creates opportunity for greater collaboration. This in turn has enabled the college to offer state of the art equipment.

To support students learning the college library has a check in and check out system of mobile devices to support all students.

Clean technology, needless to say this type of working and learning reduces other costs. Pete emphasised that mobile devise are more cost effective than desktops.

The college takes seriously in building young peoples technology consciousness. Built into  the learning framework of the curriculum is how to develop personal responsibility. Things like helping young people know that every time you do a google search, you are being monitored and that your details will be sold to someone, so understanding online data management. This is in fact a national approach, for e.g. the Cathedral in Helsinki is warmed up by it’s basement being filled up with servers.

Useful document to develop teachers and students online learning:

Click to access 2012-07-11-RajGoel_Social_Media_Cloud_Computing_Threats_To_Privacy_Security_Liberty.pdf

Pete and Asko, think you will find this TED video very powerful: Sugata Mitra: Build a school in the Cloud

 

 

Finnish Vocational Education – training future engineers

Plastic grenade is now easily created. Asko believes that schools now need to start considering the future impact of new technologies to develop personal and social responsibility

I met with Asko Haapumaki, whi is the Head of department for technical studies in mechanical and electronic engineering at Koulutuspaallikko technical college. Asko is currently working with industry to address a rather heavy loaded, irrelevant curriculum. This is currently a key development for vocational curriculums in Finland. The type of thinking that is being developed and explored are areas such as:

-IT infrastructure  in the college to meet the needs of new technologies, so looking at virtual solutions and enhancing the use of clean technologies

– Building  within the engineering  curriculum, a strong set of core values regarding personal and social responsibility both in Finland and at global level. This includes environmental thinking such as dumping waste in 3rd world environments such as redundant electronic parts being sent to Africa; educating communities and governments on melting of plastics and metals – the consequences.

– Development of APPs to support T&L, eg. colour blindness no longer hinders an engineer. Asko is also developing augmented reality technology (watch TED – Matt Mill and Tamara to understand this technology) within teaching and learning models and is currently setting up partnership developments with Pete Stockley, a specialist in mobile learning systems at Espoo.

– Preparing young people mentally for the wider world, developing a recognition that being involved in the engineering industry there is a significant responsibility as to how we interact with developments and the impact that they may have, e.g with 3D printer technology being easily accessible in engineering colleges- things are getting cheaper and potential concerns regarding the gun and explosives industry (plastics that do not get picked up by X-ray machines).

Ethical values within the curriculum  seems to be an essential priority that Asko will not be compromising on.

Finland – distributed leadership

Miina Metsola, Development Director at Keshupuisto Vocational College, has been a key policy developer within education government groups. In Finland it is  common practice to involve school leaders in curriculum discussions and reforms at ministerial level. Miina  tells me that all schools have pedagogical groups where lead teachers or the tutor work with various teams at developing bespoke Individual Study Plans (ISP), as previously mentioned at Vikki and Jarvenpaa. An interesting aspect of this tool has been that it was not imposed or driven through government directives, but instead established as an essential tool to support vulnerable learners by teachers through collaborative networks across partnership groups. Teachers decided that this tool was essential to support teaching and learning in the classroom and this good practice has been disseminated across all schools. I believe that this is a good example of the bottom up approach. This is made possible through the determined approach to securing an excellent pedagogical understanding through high quality teacher training and CPD of all teachers.

Head teachers are highly respected and involved in task groups to support policy reform. The school’s voice is heard at all levels of government. This model of leadership on the whole secures excellent support and collaboration as ideas and planning are joined up with teachers. Miina  states that she feels that the closeness between school level and government is strong. Miina herself has experienced situations where in ministerial speeches, texts that she has written to the government have been quoted.

 

Finnish government invests in collaborative partnerships

Both Keskuspuisto and Jarvenspaa Colleges, are recognised as specialists in special needs  and have been funded by the Finnish government to share their knowledge and skills in special needs to other schools.

This project will facilitate for outstanding practice to be disseminated widely. Minna, is very clear that in essence this will mean that special needs teachers in bathe colleges will be able to develop their leadership and coaching in special needs. Minna, also wanted to re-iterate that it would not be their role to go into schools and re-write policy, or define what they need to be doing differently, but rather for them to go into schools, and work alongside colleagues in supporting them to achieve desired outcomes in areas of special educational needs. This will range from direct support with individual or group of students, teacher professional development and policmost view. The most important development being that the school or college requesting support drives the agenda of need -and it’s for free!

Liisa also points out that because  teachers are so highly valued, networking is very strong as there is real trust in the profession, as well as widely felt social responsibility to develop young people. At the colleges, there is extensive training in managing the full range of challenging behaviours  and needs. All training that addresses challenging behaviour does focus on understanding triggers, preventative approaches and de-escalation strategies.

Post 16: Vocational learning programmes for Vulnerable Students

Carefully supported by teachers, and also a school business as students service teachers cars, which is also open to the public!

Both Jarvenpaa and Keskuspuito Vocational Colleges specialise in supporting vulnerable young people. There are seven such colleges in Finland, and they all work collaboratively, having a similar ethos of support.

These colleges are highly inclusive and support the full range of vulnerability and special educational needs, and find that the type of young people on the increase regarding need have “chronic psychological illness”, i.e. young people with mental health such as eating disorders, and depression. There is considerable thought that goes into supporting teachers, in order that good learning for students is secured. Both colleges invest considerably in having highly specialised staff in school in areas such at aspergers, autism, attachment, etc, to support staff learning and enabling teachers to adapt their teaching strategies effectively to support teaching and learning.

In terms of outcomes for vulnerable young people, besides a determination in helping them to acquire a qualification, a key priority of their training is supporting the development of life skills, as Minna states “about finding their way in society”, stating that learning to take care of themselves is a key theme throughout their time at the College, including:
– Who am I;
– How do I work in a group?
– How to integrate in society;
– How to operate with various services;
– What to do when planning to leave home and look after themselves

Both Colleges also work very closely with the communities that these young people live in, that includes social care, health services, community services and other youth services. This collaborative approach to working with vulnerable young people means that someone is always holding the baton – no young person disappears!

To engage young people, a full range of qualifications are available, securing outstanding skills development when young people are ready for work:
•Vocational Qualification in Crafts and Design, Artisan
•VQ in Watchmaking and Micromechanics, Watchmaker
•VQ in Information and Communications Technology,
•VQ in Household and Cleaning Services
•VQ in Vehicle Technology, Vehicle Mechanic
•VQ in Property Maintenance Services, Property Maintenance Operative
•VQ in Metalwork and Machinery, Precision Mechanic
•VQ in Logistics, Warehouse Operative
VQ in Business and Administration, Merkonomi
•Vocational Qualification in Crafts and Design, Artisan
•VQ in Watchmaking and Micromechanics, Watchmaker

Special Needs Support at Vikki Training School- co planning

At Vikki Training School, co-planning to meet individuals needs is an essential aspect of personalisation, hence the school having two highly trained SEN teachers. These teachers work alongside all subject teachers to ensure that curriculum delivery is successful for all learners. Where there are challenges in engaging learners with learning at Vikki School, subject teachers co-plan with the special needs staff to define better differentiation, or in some cases planned withdrawal from a mainstream classroom. This is only ever done with the teachers working and planning together, ensuring that whatever lesson a student is taken out of, that the student actually does get taught that same topic (but in a different way) and so is not disadvantaged. From my own experience, when this is done well, it causes less stress for both the teacher, the rest of the learners in the classroom and the withdrawn student. When the student returns to the mainstram classroom, as the gaps in learning are minimal, the student doesn’t necessarily feel different, so self-esteem is reasonably intact- a key ingredient to good learning.