Cooperation and trust at the European Education Leadership Week
How are schools being developed to become learning communities across Europe? This theme was explored at ELNE-network’s first-ever series of events on European educational leadership in February.
The European Educational Leadership Week, a series of webinars, was organised by ELNE (Educational Leadership Network Europe), a European-wide development project established last year. The network aims to strengthen collaborative educational leadership.
The final discussion of the opening day focused on collaborative leadership. Susanna Niinistö-Sivuranta, CEO of Sivistysala Sivista, participated in the discussion:
– A good collaborative culture requires dialogue and leadership. These are not against the principles of academic freedom, but instead can support and enable a lot of things in higher education institutions.
As a member of the ELNE network, Sivista contributed to the implementation of the webinar week by suggesting good examples of innovative development work. Sivista members presenting their activities during the week included the vocational college Luovi, the University of Eastern Finland’s training school, Perho Culinary, Tourism and Business College and Helsingin yhteislyseo.
Collaboration between companies and colleagues
Luovi has sought to open up learning environments more to students in the preparatory education and training for work and independent living (TELMA) programme. Rector Seija Karvonen reported on how active efforts have paid off in identifying work placements. For example, Luovi teachers and counsellors have gone to workplaces for a few days to find out which tasks could be suitable for Luovi students.
– When just asked, the companies do not necessarily recognize these tasks. Our concept requires cooperation and dialogue between the schools and companies. Shared values are the key issue, Karvonen said.
The University of Eastern Finland’s traineeship school has developed team teaching. Teacher Ulla Saastamoinen teaches 80 fifth-graders together with four other teachers.
– All of us have different strengths which we can utilize in our work. The support and competences of your colleagues enables you to develop yourself during the workdays. We plan together, teach together and evaluate together, Saastamoinen says.
According to Saastamoinen, the development of the approach is continuous: lessons are learned from failures, but many successes have been achieved. It is essential that decision-makers and school management enable different ways of working.
Creative learning environments
Heidi Hovi-Sippola, the Perho Business School’s expert on farming operations, and Jarmo Heimala, the Educational Technology Development Manager, presented their very unique Green City Farm learning environment and the cooperation models built around it with stakeholders and local residents.
– Common will to work towards a more sustainable future is important when building a sustainable learning community. The goal of promoting Agenda 2030 is included in the contracts with our partners. Collaboration and farm visits offer different kinds of opportunities to learn from each other.
The skateboarding students at Helsingin yhteislyseo also have an atypical learning environment, as part of their upper secondary school studies take place in Finland’s largest skateboard hall, located near the school. Onni Saltevo, the leader of the line of study, said that the community spirit of the skateboarding culture is reflected in the way the students also interact with other students from the upper secondary school.
– The skateboarding track has strengthened the students’ motivation in general. The students have told that they weren’t going to go to school, but because they had the skateboarding lessons, they decided to stay for the whole day, Saltevo shares as an example.
Educational technology plays a key role in meeting the challenges of teaching
Towards the end of the webinar week, Leena Pöntynen, Director of Skills and Competence Skills and Work of the Future at the Technology Industries of Finland, shared her thinking on education development in a discussion on EdTech companies and formal education. According to her, the challenges of using technology in different countries are related to the same areas: equipment, network connections, teacher skills and management of all this.
– Educational technology plays a crucial role in supporting educators and enhancing the quality of teaching across Europe. EdTech can significantly contribute to teaching quality by empowering educators, enhancing student learning experiences, and fostering digital literacy, Pöntynen pointed out in the discussion.
The webinar week made visible how similar the challenges faced across Europe are. The EELW week will continue next year. The webinars are available to view here.