The prelim​inary program: 

Monday 

• Arrival and introductions 
• Dinner at the school 

Tuesday 

• Introduction to the Finnish school system 
• Deep learning: Presentations and workshops with the teachers from Katedralskolan 
• Dinner together  

Wednesday 

• Visit to Abo Akademi University 
• Coordinators’ meeting or guided tour in Turku 
• Lunch together 
• Job shadowing in Katedralskolan 
• Free time in the evening 

Thursday 

• School visits (basic education grades 1-9)  
• Lunch at school 
• Introduction to the digital educational technologies in use in Finnish schools
• Reflections about deep learning and blogging  
• Dinner

Friday ​

• Evaluation and feedback 
• Job shadowing in Katedralskolan 
• Departure 

                                   FINLAND , TURKU     4-8.11.2019

        W listopadzie 2019 roku – dyrektor Marek Robak i nauczyciel – Ewa Thel wzięli udział w międzynarodowej konferencji w ramach programu Erasmus+, której gospodarzem była fińska szkoła w Turku. Spotkali się nauczyciele z Polski, Niemiec, Francji, Hiszpanii, Holandii i Finlandii.

          W trakcie pięciodniowej wizyty uczestniczyli w spotkaniach, których tematyka dotyczyła głównie nowoczesnych sposobów i metod nauczania, na bazie hasła „Deep learning”, czyli tzw. głębokiego uczenia się. Nauczyciele z różnych państw mieli okazję poznać funkcjonowanie fińskiego systemu szkolnictwa, słynącego ze swojej niezwykłej skuteczności.

      Oprócz spotkań szkoleniowych, uczestniczyli w zajęciach lekcyjnych ( m.in. lekcji muzyki, fizyki, geografii czy języka szwedzkiego ). Wizytowali szkoły różnych szczebli, gdzie także była możliwość rozmów i wymiany doświadczeń, uczestniczenia w lekcjach, rozmów z uczniami. Odwiedzili także Uniwersytet w Turku, zwiedzali miasto, jego zabytki i piękną przyrodę.

       Spotkanie zaowocowało zdobyciem nowych doświadczeń, poszerzeniem własnej wiedzy oraz poszerzeniem grona znajomych i przyjaciół z całej Europy.

Ewa Thel

Deep learning in Finland (C 7)

The meeting in Finland took place from the 4^th  to 8^th  of November 2019. The lead theme of the meeting was ,,Deep learning’’. The hosting school was Katedranskolan I Abo in Turku.

The participants from our schools arrived in Turku on Monday  the 4th in the afternoon and we had  dinner at  school.

         On Tuesday the 5^th in the morning Ms Liliane Kjellman (Service Area Director – Swedish Language Education) made a little introduction to the Finnish school system. The information that in Finland there aren’t any private schools was surprising for us. They have no private schools for the reason of equality (nobody should  feel better than others).

Subsequently the headmaster of the hosting school, Ms Marianne Pärnänen, gave a presentation about Deep learning. There were some leading ideas: why deep learning? What is deep learning? When is it deep enough? Generally, the point is to replace in education focus on remembering details with focus on understanding, not to prepare the students for the future, but to prepare them to change the future. The new role for teachers should be: Activator, Culture builder, Collaborator.

After this presentation and a little discussion we participated in workshops: we were divided into six groups according to the six global competencies for deep learning: character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking. Each group was directed by two teachers of Katedralskolan, we changed the groups and exchanged the ideas (everyone participated in all groups). The interesting ideas were written on  small sheets of paper and pined on the board. In the end, the board of each group was presented to all participants.

In the afternoon there was a meeting of the coordinators of our project followed by  dinner in a restaurant.

         On Wednesday the 6^th from morning till afternoon the coordinators worked on the progress of our project, we fixed the dates of all visits and activities, we exchanged the good practices. In the afternoon we visited the castle of Turku from XII-XIV century, very interesting. Turku is the oldest town in Finland (ancient capital of Finland) and the castle in Turku is the oldest one in Finland. Many governors and princes lived here. The castle is very interesting for us, the Polish, because Polish princess, Katarzyna Jagiellonka, lived here (she was the wife of king John III).

         On Thursday the 7^th in the morning we visited the school and had a meeting with all students of Katedralskolan, a few of them related to us their participation in the projects of European Union, especially Erasmus+. Later, one of the teachers of Katedranskolan, Ms Lena Malmio, presented the digital educational technologies  used in Finnish schools and told us how she uses them in education and contacts with parents, teachers and students. While job shadowing, we participated in the lesson of biology with the teacher Ms Mikaela Korin-Niemi. The lesson was very interesting. In the afternoon the coordinators worked on the project.

In the evening we had dinner with sauna and opportunity to swim in the sea.

         On Friday the 8^th morning we finalized and evaluated our visit and went back home. We have very positive impressions after this week in Finland, it was very interesting and very well organized. Thank you, Finnish friends!~

                                                                Marek Robak