Project right to learn – in IAEVG Conference 2019

Project right to learn – skills to teach attended to the international conference of International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG/AIOSP) in Bratislava from 11th to 13th September 2019. The theme of the conference, career guidance for inclusive society, was this year very close to the work done in the project. In one of the three main conference days, the project had an oral presentation open for all interested in the development of the teacher training, especially special needs education and transdisciplinary guidance.  

In our presentation, we asked How to renew teacher training curricula in Finland towards more inclusive and transdisciplinary approach. We introduced a threefold model for developing 1) guidance skills of the teachers in secondary education, 2) uniform course selection in special need education and guidance counsellor teacher training in teacher training bodies in Finland and finally, 3) new operational culture for secondary education.

There were approximately 50 participants from all over the world in our session and numerous questions were raised after the presentation. We were asked, above all, about the Finnish education system. How is it possible that students have personalized learning paths? How does it function in practice? We explained that although there is a lot of personalization, the curricula still exist affecting the level of personalization possible. We also explained that it is always a matter of negotiation when deciding, for example, whether certain work experience is validated as a part of one’s studies.

Participants were also interested in the survey which is currently in progress and aims to map how special education teachers and guidance counselors see their competencies in relation the new legislation requirements in secondary level education. Altogether our approach to upper secondary level education aroused a fair deal of interest among our international listeners.

We promised that next year we’ll be back with the survey results!