Session 2 consists of 10 lectures. In this session, you will learn about the Finnish context and education system. The Finnish context and education system are presented to the students to enable them to proportion the course to their own national contexts. The method both allows and encourages interaction and comparison expanding our understanding. In this session, the presentation of each topic is followed by at least one discussion between the students and the lecturers. The literature for the session consists mainly of information offered in the official internet sites of Finnish state authorities.

Assignment before lectures: Read the following before you start going through the lectures.

Darlington-Hammond, L. (2010) Steady Work: Finland#Builds a Strong Teaching and Learning System” in Rethinking Schools (2010), Volume 24, Number 4. Republished in http://www.nea.org/home/40991.htm.

Ministry of Education (2012) Education and research 2012-2016. A development plan. In http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Julkaisut/2012/liitteet/okm03.pdf?lang=en.

Finnish National Board of Education (2011) Education. In http://www.oph.fi/english/education.

Kupiainen, S., Hautamäki, J. & Karjalainen, T. (2009) The Finnish education system and PISA. Ministry of Education Publications, Finland 2009:46. In http://www.okm.fi/OPM/Julkaisut/2009/The_Finnish_education_system_and_PISA.html?lang=en.

Assignment after the session: Write into workbook

Please start the session by clicking lecture 1.