Invited by the Xi’an Qujiang No.1 Primary School, Dr. Dong Li from Finnish International Education Innovation Research Institute (FEDUCATION) led a team of Finnish experts to visit the school in the autumn semester of 2019. The purpose of the visit was to offer comprehensive teacher training in the field of curriculum development. After arriving on the first day, the Finnish expert team visited the school’s history museum and the art exhibition.
The expert team took their time to visit the classrooms across different grades and disciplines at the beginning of the customized training plan and conducted on-site observations of daily classes to further understand the school’s conditions and practices as well as pupils’ learning. The experts also organized intensive study and research discussions after class answered questions about daily teaching, and proposed suggestions to further improve teaching efficiency and teaching methods.
To better help the principals and teachers at Qujiang No.1 Primary School understand and master the advanced educational concepts of Finnish education, Finnish experts gave lectures on the new curriculum reform and innovative teaching in Finnish education, as well as Mathematic-Programming and English-Physical Education multidisciplinary courses. The exquisite class demonstrations of the fusion classes, as well as the home economics class, allow the teachers to learn from the macro to the micro, from theory to practical operation.
On October 24th, organized by Xi’an Education Bureau and initiated by Xi’an Educational Science Institute and Qujiang New District Education and Health Management Service Center, the education seminar of the FEDUCATION Finnish Education Training Program of Qujiang No. 1 Primary School was held at school.
Dr. Dong Li presented a report entitled “Finnish Education for the Future” to the educators who attended the meeting. He discussed topics including the learning environment, learning methods, curriculum, teacher professionalism school management and evaluations, and a comparison of education in various countries. The presentation provides an in-depth analysis of how Finland created the miracle of education, and the innovation and inspiration brought by Finnish curriculum reform to the future of curriculum construction in China.
Dr. Matti, senior education advisor, and curriculum design expert at FEDUCATION brought an authentic Finnish science class about rocket force to the local fifth grader pupils. In the classroom, Dr. Matti provides a student-centered learning environment, designs the instruction from the perspective of the student, and discusses sincerely and openly the topic with students. This lesson guided students to fully experience, explore, practice, and gain knowledge from multiple materials resources and learning activities. Pupils made rockets and launched them, participated in learning activities curiously, and cooperated and interacted actively with other classmates, which is truly the definition of “learning by doing”!
After a week of research and training, the Finnish experts continued to guide the teachers at Qujiang No.1 Primary School on how to innovate classroom teaching from theory to practice, and how to constantly improve the school-based curriculum. At the conference, the teachers presented the science and mathematics demonstration lessons that they meticulously prepared and designed. Dr. Dong Li and other Chinese education experts provided feedback and suggestions to the teachers after the class demonstration. Dr. Dong Li emphasized that teachers must “derive from textbooks and be higher than textbooks” as well as “look at teaching from a developmental perspective, break the boundaries of curriculum teaching” and benefit the students.
