Jari Aho from JAMK
Creative and partivcipatory methods and mentoring
Today we started with variety of warm-up activities.
1. All the students walk in the class then find 2 people and make triangle with them, but 2 people you are making even triangle with should not notice.
2. All the students walk in the class then everybody should find 1 person and follow him/her, but they sould not notice. At the same you shouls try to find your follower.
3. Everybody should stay in a circle according  to first letter of his/her name. Then somebody say his or her name and do a movement which others should repeat.
Afternoon activities:
1. To take picture that you like then find a person who has similar picture and talk to him/her.
2. We have used methods of piramid when people work individualy, then discuss in group of 2 then in group of 4.

 International and multicultural week by Riitta Metsänen, D.Ed., Principal Lecturer & Leila Nisula, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer

 The question was what do we mean by multicultural teacher in this context?
A teacher who is teaching a class where  students come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds or the teacher´s background differs from his/her class's major ethnic and cultural background.

A teachers´multicultural competence could be divided into three/four dimensions:

1.Knowledge

2.Skills

3.Attitudes and personality characteristics

Skill competition and excellence in skills.

A number of terms used by teachers to describe "gifted" students: bright, talented, high flier, exceptionally able. Teachers use these terms to refer to students who have demonstrated particular abilities and for whom different educational provision is needed (Thomson, 2006, p 3). Definig giftedness has progressed from a one-test and one-fixed construct  approch centering on intellectual giftedness to the concept of multiple talents or intellegence (George, 2003). One definition says that gifted students have the potentional to demonstrate superior perfomances in a number of areas and talented refers to those who do this in single area (George, 2000 cited by Thomson, 2006). Gagne proposed model of giftedness and talent where giftedness is the potential or aptitude within an individual and that this can be developed into talent by environmental  or other factors. 

05-09.05.14
Special needs education

Main ideas that we could point out from the lessons is following:

 School should not be separated from the society because processes in society influence on school and conversely. Also everybody should be within the limits of the system that's why geverment tries to take care  of everyone. 

Not all the children with disabilities may have learning disabilities. 

Special needs education in Finland is based on the law that everybody has the  right to learn.  The goverment's policy on special needs education  can be seen by example of Kiipula Vocational College. Kiipula Vocational College is a centre of vocational education and a development centre for special education. This college provides study possibilities for students with special needs. It also provides services adult education, rehabilitation, and work life development.

Main principles of special education:

Students with special needs

• Inclusion into common groups

• Integrated groups

• Qualification training in special education follows the national core curriculum

• Individual adaptations are possible

• Each student has Individual Education Plan + Individual Study Plan

23.04.14
Paivi Pukkila

Study counselling 

The main statment was "Counsellors do not give answers and it is not therapy". Students should not ask everything they sould be able to devise their own individual study plan, identify problems relaiting to their studies. 

There is no counselling from 1 to 6 grades in Finnish schools it starts from 7 grade. Counsellors have high level of autonomy so they can decide themselves what and how to do in counselling. However they sould follow some rulls and plans. 

Counselling can be one of the reasons of success on PISA. 

Tutoring is the one of the way of counselling when second grade (upper secondary school) students can be consalled by counsellor to help first grade students. Sometimes students can counsell each other.
It was very exciting to know what it feels like. We have counselled each other and have been counselled as well by collegs. We was using catalytic style of intervention that mostly was realized by asking open questions and giving right directions for counselled person. 

Assessment of learning and competence

It is important when assessment is based on the curriculum's objectives and descriptions of good perfomance rather than when  assessment is based on comparing students  with each other. However creating competetive environment is also important to move students' progress forward. So teacher sould find balans between two ways of assessment. 

Taitaja2014 in Lahti

It was one of the amazing educational event I have ever seen. before I have attended International seminar "Workbased Learning as a Sustainable Practicein Vocational Education and Training" combined with the Finnish National Skills. I visited Taitaja 2014 in Lahti that is Finland's biggest annual event in vocational education. About four hundred students take part in the competition. Taitaja2014 held at the Lahti Fair Centre and it is organised by Salpaus Further Education.  In the Taitaja national skills competition, young professionals compete in 45 different skill categories like avtomomile technology, printing technology, ventilation technology etc.