1. Use of ICT Tools in Basic Education in Europe: Case Study from Finland
General information about NBE
Kaisa Vähähyyppä
Councellor of Education
Finnish National Board of Education

2. Finland (Finnish name Suomi) is a
republic which became a member
of the European Union in 1995.
Its population is 5.3 million.
The capital Helsinki has 561 000 residents.
Finland is an advanced industrial economy: the metal, engineering and electronics Industries account for about 60 % of export revenues, the forest products Industry for about 20 %. Finland is one of the leading countries in Internet use. Today, there are more mobile phone than fixed network subscriptions.

3. Finland December at noon

4. THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION IN FINLAND
Ministry of Education
Universities
Finnish National Board of Education
Polytechnics
State Provincial Offices
Ministry of education makes the education policy for the whole country and of course gives us the orders and advices for our work.
In the ministry they are also doing the legislation work.
The ministry lead also the universities and polytecnics.
Our work in NBE is to develope education on the grassroot level. We are doing the national curricula for all subjects and we do national evaluation and have some information services. Of course there are very many other tasks also but those are the main tasks.
Education providers
Educational institutions

5. THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION
agreement on
results for a
period of
3 years
Ministry of Education
educational policy
legislation
Finnish National Board of Education
national core curricula
developmental work
national evaluation
information services

7. FINNISH NATIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION - TASKS
National core curricula
- preprimary, primary, secondary, upper secondary general, upper secondary vocational education and competence-based vocational qualifications
Evaluation
- performance tests
Developmental work
- support nationally important aims of educational policy in close co-operation with the providers
We have national tests but of course there are many other international tests also like Pisa.
- develops education. Finnish National Board of Education (NBE) draws up core curricula for basic and upper secondary education, the framework for vocational qualifications and competence-based qualifications, and undertakes various projects to develop education
Right now we have started to work with educational environments . That includes elerning of course but also local environments like all kinds of cultural intitutions etc, physical environments the most important of those is of course the school bulding itself. How is it possible to use that as educationla tool.
Social and didactic environments belong in that also.

8. ICT in schools
Equipping schools with computers
Networking schools
Organizing teachers’ in-service training
Developing teaching methods
Virtual school project
Developing Learning Environments

9. ICT in education
Schools are assumed to create their own ICT strategy as part of their local curriculum
All schools have access to internet
Most schools have high speed network communication

10. Developing learning environments
FNBE awards state grants to development of learning environments
The amount of grants is approximately 5 million euros/year
Next application round spring 2009
ICT should become a natural part of daily work

11. Aspects of learning environments
LOCAL
SOCIAL
Didactic-pedagogical
TECHNICAL
PHYSICAL

12. Aspects of learning environments
Local
libraries
cultural organisations
communities
associations
sports organisations
homes ….

13. Aspects of learning environments
Local
libraries
Cultural organisations
communities
associations
sports organisations
homes ….
Where should ICTs be?
Positioning (gps)
tasks before and after visits
measuring
reporting
keeping contact …

14. Aspects of learning environments
Physical
school building, school yard, furniture, placement of furniture ....
learning while playing
ICT outside- Yes!

15. Aspects of learning environments
Technical
learning on the Net
themes of learning
mobile learning
positioning systems
virtual worlds
games
Facebook
SecondLife
IRC Gallery
Wikipedia
blogs, wikis
Flicr…

16. Aspects of learning environments
Social
the social network within which learning takes place.
Social learning environments are influenced by all people (teachers, students,
school staff, parents) who take part in the learning situation, as well as by the
interaction between these people.
Simultaneous enthusiasm to learn!
→ creative atmosphere
Creativity is a game of the mind – give it the space it needs!

17. ICT projects – things has been done already
In-service training for teachers and head teachers
Three levels:
Ope.fi I (Ope=”Teacher”)
- every teacher must master the basic ICT skills (word processing, , etc)
Ope.fi II
Most of the teachers must master the skills using ICT id education
Ope.fi III
- about 20 % of the teachers must master a specialized knowledge on ICT
so called experts

18. ICT projects – things has been done already
Virtual Scool- project
Part of the national Information Society project
ICT projects at schools, mostly finacied by the State
- best practices colleted into one portal edu.fi maintained by FNBE
OpettajaTV = TeacherTV
- co-operation project between Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle)
and FNBE
- TV series for in-service training and courses on the net
- materials connected to Yle’s so called living archive

19. ICT in Schools project 2008-2010
The project is carried out by Ministry of Transport and Communications
(co-ordination), Ministry of Education and National Board of
Education and in co-operation with industry and commerce.
1) Pedagogical practices of ICT for teaching and learning
 2) Media culture in formal and informal learning environments
 3) ICT mediated interaction, team work and competencies
 4) ICT tools, infrastructure and usability
12 pilotschools selected at November 2008

20. Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies
Know-how – the Power of Art and Skill
The project creates a framework for learning arts and crafts, increasing
social interaction and consolidating teamwork skills in an online environment.
The project applies a range of online working methods: online learning platforms,
knowledge-building using Wiki tools, learning blogs, and image, music and
video galleries or online exhibitions with a view to strengthening an operational
culture based on shared expertise and networking at educational institutions.
How to use the Museum from distance?
Is it possible to add new Inventions to the Museum site?

21. Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies
Get a Move On!
The Get a Move On! project involves three lower secondary schools
and five upper secondary schools from different part of the country
, which produce information about the environment from the
perspective of different subjects (geography, chemistry,
social studies, visual arts and health/physical education) and
cross-curricular themes, using mobile learning methods.
The project commercialises learning pathways directed at
school groups, a GIS learning environment and
operating model in co-operation with Science Centre,
Marine Nature Centre and the PaikkaOppi GIS Learning
Portal project.

22. Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies
Writing to Read – the Trageton Method
Five schools will start to apply the method developed
by Norwegian Arne Trageton to teach Finnish-speaking children to
read and write.
Through this method, children will learn to read and write on a
computer and by hand at the same time. Computers will also enable
those pupils with motor difficulties in writing to grasp productive
writing skills more quickly.

23. Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies
GIS Learning Portal
The PaikkaOppi project creates an open geographical information systems (GIS) learning portal, which allows students and teachers to browse various centrally administered background materials (including base maps,
weather satellite images, soil/bedrock maps,
nature reserves, the road network,
GPS navigation). The portal
enables students, classes and
different schools to co-operate
in different subjects or with joint
environmental themes.

24. Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies
Information and Safety from the Web
In this project pilot schools’ project, pupils and teachers join forces
to put Web communication and instant messaging tools to use at school,
produce new contents and transfer peer support practices into a
virtual learning environment. Web use will be extended to pupil
welfare services and school well-being efforts.

25. Learning environments –project 2007 – Case studies
Almost 400 learning environment project going on – ´partly financed by FNBE
International case:
eTwinning - European Schools Project in Finland connects
schools and teachers from all countries in eTwinning projects.
About 1000 schools from Finland is participating eTwinning already

26. Materials
FNBE has created a guide to the web 2.0 for teachers – free for all
(only in Finnish and Swedish) edu.fi
KenGURU a material for teachers- how to use ICT in a pedagogical way
on lessons. KenGuru is made especially for selfstudies edu.fi

27. Thank you!
C Contact information:
Kaisa Vähähyyppä
Councellor of Education, Head of Unit