A study trip is no tourist holiday

On an autumn evening, a group of ten Serbs were eagerly anticipating a cruise in the Helsinki archipelago after a full working day. The purpose of their nearly one week’s stay in Finland was to learn more about the Finnish school system.    The participants included representatives of the Serbian board and ministry of education, the Serbian teachers’ union and various regional organisations.

At the Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education, the guests learned about the continuing education offered to Finnish teachers.

Development Manager Tea Seppälä is ideally suited to provide information about the professional development of teachers at the University of Helsinki. Dr Seppälä is responsible for dozens of annual training programmes in the field at the Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education. She not only has insight into practical issues in schools, but is also familiar with current pedagogical discussion and debate and has studied adult apprenticeship training.

For several years now, Palmenia has welcomed groups of visitors from around the world. The Serbian visit was the brainchild of Raisa Venäläinen, a teaching consultant in Serbia, and part of a Swiss-funded educational development project. The group had access to an interpreter to ensure that everyone understood the English-language presentation and was able to participate in the subsequent discussion.

The presentation included in the study trip is not a standard one-way lecture, but rather a discussion involving reflection on practical issues.

In Serbia, teachers receive little, if any, pedagogical training. The publicly sponsored professional development programme for teachers guarantees each Serbian teacher 100 hours of continuing education over a five-year period provided by a varied group of 900 associations and organisations.

 “When we are expecting a group of at least ten people, lectures and excursions are organised according to the group’s specific wishes. Unfortunately, our schedules prevent us from accommodating individual visitors. Our lecturers are not tourist guides; they work primarily in administrative positions in the teaching sector,” Tea Seppälä points out.

“Visiting decision-makers and developers in the teaching sector are usually keen to meet and talk with representatives of the Finnish public administration, the University of Helsinki and the regional administration as well as to visit a Finnish school,” says Project Secretary Silpa Karjunen-Aguilar, who is responsible for the practical arrangements. Following the initial contact, usually through the Palmenia website, timetables and other details are arranged by email.

The Serbian group spent the first day of its trip visiting the Finnish National Board of Education, and after a session at Palmenia, the group met with educational administrators of the City of Espoo and visited two schools there.

 

 

Study Visit to Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education from the Republic of Serbia 28th September 2011

Service Order Request - EduVisit in Finland

The educational visit service is aimed to groups of 10 or more persons who want to get a closer view to the Finnish educational system. The service costs 250 euros/person/day.

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