Finnish model of online teaching goes abroad

When the university teacher training school started to plan international student teachers’ teaching practice for this autumn, no one dared to guess last spring whether teaching could be delivered in person or online. This called for the development of a completely new model for teaching practice. 

“We wanted to make sure that our international students can progress in their studies as planned, so we had to come up with a model that would be feasible even if schools continued to operate in the online mode also in the autumn,” Lecturer of English Hilkka Koivistoinen says.

This led to the creation of a hybrid model where pupils go to school normally, but their student teachers are online. If a complete switch to the online mode was needed during the teaching practice, this would not affect teaching. 

“When creating this model, we were also thinking about the “new normal” where we learn new ways to teach. It is highly likely that the coronavirus pandemic, or something else, will put our students face to face with a similar situation when they return home. Luckily, they will already have a ready-made concept for, and experience in, online teaching.” 

The student teachers are enrolled in the Master’s Degree Programme in Early Language Education for Intercultural Communication (ELEIC) taught in English at the University of Eastern Finland. The programme’s curriculum includes two teaching practice periods in the university teacher training school.

“Currently, we have 11 students in the programme. They come from Vietnam, South Korea, Turkey, Canada, China, Thailand, Columbia and Russia. They were able to do their first teaching practice in the Tulliportti primary school last spring, and their second teaching practice, which we refer to as Professional Practice, was carried out online,” Koivistoinen says.

New ways of working

This autumn, the student teachers have been giving English lessons for fifth and sixth graders over the internet. The pupils have attended school as usual, with their own teachers in the classroom to support them. In order to bring more authenticity to online teaching, the pupils have used different school facilities for learning. 

“Our pupils have been persistent on these lessons, and they’ve shown plenty of initiative. Last spring’s online teaching has clearly prepared them for this model,” Lecturer of English Hanna Hotanen, one of the supervising teachers, says.

Koivistoinen points out that all skills relating to working independently are also skills needed in the future world of work.

“Studying like this boosts confidence and a more independent approach to learning.”

Of course, the teachers are available to assist their pupils. At first, the student teachers’ different accents and ways of speaking were a cause of confusion, so the pupils were asked to focus on the words they could recognise.

“This has taught us to change our attitude, and we’ve also learned about linguistic diversity. Our pupils have made huge progress on these lessons, and they are now more confident speakers of English,” Hotanen says. 

The pupils agree.

“At first, it felt difficult to have access to the student teacher only online. However, it has been nice to get to know student teachers from different countries, and to learn new things in the process,” sixth grader Milli Tarvainen says.

The pupils have also grown accustomed to the student teachers’ accents. 

“Initially, I was nervous about the student teachers not speaking any Finnish. All guidelines were given in English alone. Luckily, my fellow students helped me if there was something I didn’t quite understand,” sixth grader Naomi Mgaya says. 

Teaching was delivered in pairs, allowing the student teachers also to learn about co-teaching and collaboration. 

“We have also learned about different countries, watched videos from them, and played Kahoot. We’ve used various different ways to learn new things, and because the lessons have been so diverse, we’ve learnt more than usual,” the pupils say.  

Challenging, yet rewarding

For the student teachers, the experience has been positive, although not everything went quite as planned, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.  

“We’ve now been in Finland for over a year without visiting home once. Although I’ve learnt a lot professionally, this has been a wonderful experience also otherwise,” Valentina Reina Picalúa from Columbia says. 

According to her, teaching is probably one of the most difficult professions to transition to an online environment. 

“Figuring out the technology has taken a lot of time, as has engaging and motivating the pupils during online sessions. The first classes were a learning experience for us, too, but we’ve gotten better over time.” 

Simon Wojtyczka, a fellow student teacher from Canada, agrees.

“For me, not being able to assist my pupils spontaneously has been the hardest part. In traditional classrooms, I would often walk around and assist my pupils while they were working through an exercise.  Unfortunately, this is not possible in online settings unless the pupils reach out directly via chat or using their microphones.”

For pupils too embarrassed or otherwise unable to ask for help, Wojtyczka develop a model where the pupils could simply press ‘1’ in the chat for assistance. 

“For many, this was an easier way to signal that they needed some help.” 

According to the supervising teachers, a lack of non-verbal communication is a problem in online teaching.

“When we can’t see each other's gestures and facial expressions, it takes an extra effort to communicate online. We’ve tried to emphasise that although we are online, we must still be present and available to each other,” Hotanen says.

Although the online mode of teaching was dictated by the coronavirus pandemic, Koivistoinen points out that the model can be used anytime, anywhere.

“The teacher’s physical location is not important. As long as the technology works, lessons can be given from anywhere in the world. This kind of a Finnish model we want to impart to our students so that they can apply it back home.”

Besides an online model of teaching, the students will also take home other kinds of models of teaching. Simon Wojtyczka says that he will try to incorporate more group work and pair work into his language lessons. 

“It would be nice to have some team teaching classes back in Canada.  However, this would require administrative approval and the construction of facilities capable of accommodating large groups of students.”