VET Teachers for the Future 2016 Course Blog

Brazilian teachers discussed about the differences between Finnish and Brazilian Education Systems at HAMK University

Brazil has thinking about how to improve its Education System, because this vast country has huge students’ drop out rates and poor outcomes in international exams which assess Math and Language abilities. So, Brazilian teachers decided that something needed to change. However, they didn’t know how to start this reform. Then, they have paid a visit to Finland few years ago up to now, looking for the reasons which make the Education in this Nordic Country so efficient, according to PISA and others International Exams.

On 25th April, 2016, Brazilian teachers from Macapá Primary School (a State in  Northern Brazil) met Brazilian teachers from Federal Institute Network, who are taking part in a Vocational Education and Traning Course (VET3 Teachers) at Hamk University. Both groups have studied about the Finnish Education System and its approaches and learning environments.

They could share experiences throughout a “learning by teaching method”, when the whole group talked about some interesting topics regarding school and society in Finland, and also how they are different from the Brazilian reality. The discussion table were hosted by VET3 teachers, who tried to instigate Macapá teachers to talk about their prior knowledge and Finnish experiences related to Student-Centered Learning and Design Learning Process in Finland. VET3 Teachers also asked about innovations, achievements and reflections about the challenges that would be struggled in Brazil.

In the following French lines, we will list the main topics discussed in our table:

• Apprentice Active - students are protagonists in the learning process;
• Shared knowledge - radically changes the traditional teaching bases in Brazil, because the teacher stop being the keeper of knowledge and becomes a mediator or facilitator of learning, acting as a coach.
• Multidisciplinarity - the activities and content not remain the property of a teacher or discipline, and become tools shared by different teachers;
• Flexible curriculum - the curriculum is very punctual, teachers and schools have greater autonomy to add topics and content appropriately to the realities and contexts of students;
• Family participation in school - the community participate on school and work side by side with teachers. Their participation is effective in building and setting priorities and projects built by the school;
• school standards - after visiting large and small schools, teachers suggested that the general conditions, methodologies, furniture and teaching and learning strategies showed very little variation even in different school contexts;
• Less is more - teachers have found that the quality of education in Finland dispenses encyclopedic curriculum and propaedeutic approach as carried out in Brazil, as in developing learning less quality content;
• Human values ​​- the basis of educational work is guided by the appreciation of the people, the ethical and human references that are fully disseminated and guide all actions of individuals inside and outside the school;
• Autonomy - teachers and students share trust and autonomy in carrying out the work and learning process;
• Trust - this is a key value in society and the Finnish school;
• Teaching profession - there is a visible appreciation of the teaching profession in Finland, especially considering that there is much competition to become teacher; the criteria for this profession include the requirement for master's and didactic teacher training; teacher salaries vary little in relation to other professions, and the company is confident that the teachers are really committed to quality education because the school is unique for everyone;
• The infrastructure of schools stimulates collaborative work with alterantives spaces in addition to the classroom where students can work together;
• Student-centered learnig is still a challenge, so it is necessary to invest in  teachers’ training to support the changes that need to happen inside and outside the classroom.

They also reported their experiences as a teacher in Macapa. Antonio, for instance, who teachs to 5th grade, told us about his methodology. He has been stimulating his students to help each other. For us, it means he has been practicing collaborative work with the students. He tries to guide students during the solving problem process avoiding to give any answer. He thinks he has been helping students to develop autonomy, he was not conscious about that. Antonio, currently has sought to work with hot issues like zika virus and dengue. Now, Antonio figured out that he and many other colleagues have developed adequate pedagogical practices. But, he believes they need support from school and government to improve these practices and the students’ outcomes.

An other exemple is Shirlene. She teachs to 4th grade. She thinks she does not have any autonomy to do her job. This impression is based on the conservative point of viem from School’s Princial. According to her, the Principal used to disagree with Shirlene’s new methodologies. On the other hand, sometimes  her Pedagogical Coordinaora request her to develop a new and specific project. She told us that once the students start a project but she did not like the idea, in that moment, she decided not to help or prohibit the development of the project, she just observed far. At the end the students developed the first mathematics challenge in their school. Maybe, it was not the best way to increase trust and autonomy in her students. Nowadays, she knows that the dialogue is very important to develop of the students, the school and her own.

We met a teacher from upper secondary level, Carla. She explained about a brazilian government program that was developed in her school, PROGRAMA ENSINO MEDIO INOVADOR (http://educacaointegral.mec.gov.br/proemi). She teaches audio-visual art. In her classes the students must develop a short movie about their choices, all steps involved in production, like theme, local, music, actors, etc, were responsibilities of the students. It is not a PBL but it can became one, she told us that her colleagues do not believe in this program but if they will change their opinions, they may use this opportunity to improve de learning of the students.

We could see that in spite of different realities lived for the Macapá teachers and the teachers from Federal Institutes, our challenges and desires are quite similar.  We share the wish to build a highest quality education with Finnish student-centered approach in a Brazilian reality.

SYNTHESIS OF GROUP 1 (A1, B1, C1)