Browsing by Subject "curriculum"

The Finnish national core curriculum for basic education is currently being renewed at the National Board of Education and the new curriculum will be implemented in August 2016. A curriculum defines the value basis and aims of teaching as well as the core contents to be taught. A curriculum is closely bound to its surrounding society reflecting its prevailing values, customs and traditions. Therefore, in order to renew the curriculum, it is essential to understand the societal changes and values recognized as important in the society. The drafts of the new curriculum were posted for the first time on the website of the National Board of Education for public commentary. This research examined what the feedback of the new curriculum draft was like; what themes did the commentators hold important concerning the curriculum and education in present and in the future? The research data consisted of 963 comments that were posted on the webpage of the National Board of Education regarding the draft of the general part of the new curriculum. The feedback form was open for 17 days in November and December 2012. The qualitative data analysis was done by coding with the help of Atlas.ti software. The comments discussed several issues regarding the Finnish school, its mission and the appreciations of the commentators. As a result, four major themes were found: 1) equality in education; 2) the use of authentic learning environments and multi-professional collaboration with surrounding community; 3) the role of Finnish cultural heritage and religious education and 4) sustainable development and global citizenship. These results reflect the values and topics the commentators held important for the future in terms of developing the Finnish school and society.

English has become a global language, and students around the world know English is an essential foreign language to expand their knowledge. For the same reason, English has been the most common foreign language that students learn in South Korea and Finland. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine the curricula in South Korea and Finland to see the similarities and differences of the two countries’ English education. Although both countries focus on teaching English by using the communicative approach, their outputs in English education differ from each other. The study analyzes the curricula and textbooks by using Curriculum-Analysis Procedure. Then, the study analyzes the textbooks based on Littlejohn’s task analysis sheet. According to the analysis, the Finnish curriculum provides more specific learning goals than the Korean curriculum even though the Finnish curriculum does not specify teaching methods to teachers. The Korean curriculum provides specific word limitations for each level, and it provides specific teaching methods. However, the Korean curriculum’s learning goals are rather vague. The analysis on the textbooks suggests an interesting result. Although the Korean textbooks provide a higher number of oral tasks than the Finnish textbooks, the results demonstrate that the Korean textbooks are focused on repetition. Also, the Korean textbooks are quite regulated since the tasks ask students to focus on certain task types. On the contrary, the Finnish textbooks include a smaller number of oral tasks than the Korean textbooks, but the oral tasks encourage students to produce their own sentences rather than focusing on form. The Finnish textbooks try to provide as diverse task types as possible.

The purpose of the research was to study how Finnish lower-stage schools participating in the international network of UNESCO schools, also called the Associated Schools Project (ASP), prepare their students for the future at the level of their school-based curriculums. In the research, the future trends were discussed, and the importance of their consideration in educational practice was explained from a global viewpoint: Based on the examination of today's problematic world state, and development trends characterized by globalization, the challenges and demands set for schooling and education in the future were discussed. Understanding the significance of an individual's action and responsibility was considered to be the central resource for building a more just and sustainable future. The study was grounded on a theoretical model developed by the researcher, which combined the models of Dalin & Rust (1996) and UNESCO (Delors et al. 1996) about future-oriented learning. The model consists of four basic elements of curriculum; "Nature", "Culture", "Myself", and "Others", and four dimension of learning; "Learning to know", "Learning to do", "Learning to live together" and "Learning to be". The model represents the holistic aspect of educational theory, and its aim is to maintain a balance between its different components. The research material composed of ten lower-stage UNESCO schools' school-based curriculums. They were analyzed using the theoretical model by the methology of content analysis. The research results were notably consistent between the different schools. They showed cultural learning and learning concerned with "myself" to be clearly more emphasized than learning referring to nature and other people. In addition, they reflected the central position of subjects, knowledge and skills, thus leaving the development of the pupils' personalities, and particularly learning concerned with living with other people, in a marginal role. The question about whether the schools prepare for the future interms of their curriculums, was discussed in the light of the results. The research offered a way and a model to approach the relationship between education and the future, and to evaluate schools' future-orientation. Based on the results, the schools are suggested to lay more stress on learning concerned with nature and other people, and focus more on developing the mental capasities of their pupils and competencies they need for living with other people. Above all, what the present societies require of schools is education which produces balanced and broadly aware human beings who have the mental strength to face the challenges of the future and abilities to direct it along the lines they desire.

Multicultural learning environments are increasing at schools, where the inherent diversity in groups working in collaboration triggers situations of conflict due to students having different worldviews and opinions. While conflicts have traditionally been seen as negative, research shows that when resolved constructively, they have the potential to develop multiple skills and create richer learning experiences. The path to achieving constructive conflicts in a classroom largely depends on the development of the skills needed for conflict resolution in students and conflict management strategies. Nevertheless, although research shows inconsistency in methods and guidelines to achieve constructive conflicts, it is agreed that holistic support from schools is crucial. Therefore, this study aims to explore the strategies implemented by schools to promote constructive conflict resolution among students, as well as the specific approaches used during conflict situations. This study collected data through online qualitative surveys of in-service teachers at international schools worldwide. Participants shared their beliefs and practices regarding conflict resolution through open-ended questions, and responses were analysed using an inductive approach of content analysis to answer the research questions of this study. The results offered a holistic view of the practices in school settings, dividing the findings into two themes depending on the time of implementation: before or during the conflict. On one hand, preparing students for conflict resolution highlighted the development of SEL skills in the classroom through teachers' practices and curriculum approaches. Specifically, the embedding of SEL in the curriculum, collaborative learning methods and conflict resolution training were significant in preparing students for conflict resolution. In addition, prevalent conflict management strategies included collaborative conflict resolution strategies and teachers’ mediation, while inter-disciplinary support with third parties appeared as crucial for teachers. This study concludes that schools must develop methods at every level of school communities, curriculums need to embed SEL, and multi-disciplinary professionals at school are needed. Finally, there is a need to unify teachers’ practices to further develop teacher training on conflict resolution, so students will achieve constructive conflict resolution independently.