Webinar 6

Created: 19.12.2022, Last Edited: 20.12.2022

For the sixth webinar we had to plan another lesson. This time the topic was: What do the student welfare services (opiskeluhuolto) mean in vocational schools and in higher education? ​

Preparation

We went back to the usual jig-saw puzzle model and preparation was similar as all other lessons except that one of our team members had to skip this webinar, so we planned the session in a team of 3 instead of 4. Otherwise, planning went as usual, meeting at 5:00 in the mornings. This time, however, instead of going to work and risk meeting the guard again, I had the planning session in my Sauna :-) It's separated enough from the rest of the house that I can talk and not wake up the rest of the family.

One of my colleagues had a head-start and collected some information about welfare before our planning session, so we brainstormed on the existing content and made to-do lists. My future tasks were to come up with some interactive elements to add to our teaching session. While researching, I found a nice video on student welfare from the city of Oulu [1]. The video, however, is in Finnish and since my colleagues in the pedagogical studies are mostly international, I decided to make an English voice-over for the video and published the new version on my channel:

To enhance the interactivity of our teaching session, I also created a Kahoot with content from our presentation.

Presentation

I believe my session went well. It was the first one that I managed to complete exactly on time which made me feel particularly happy about it. The 5 minute video was well received and I think it was a good idea to translate it into English. One student even thanked me for it at the end of the webinar. The video helped spark conversation and we had a nice discussion about personal experiences with welfare. One student mentioned her kids' experience when having to change schools and how the welfare services helped them feel included in the new place. Another student mentioned the stresses caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the war situation in Russia and what challenges these bring to the welfare system.

I then started to teach the theoretical part. I focused on the preventive nature of the Finnish student welfare system (and Finnish systems in general). It is much less 'expensive' to prevent a situation than to deal with the consequences. I explained the structure of the welfare system, that it's concerned with safety, collaboration, school-home cooperation and that the main goal is to provide a good learning environment for all students. The student welfare services may include a nurse, doctor and psychologist and a welfare team (teachers and management members).

I then focused on vocational education, starting with the laws, like the pupil and student welfare act [2], the act on Vocational Education and Training [3] and the Health Care Act [4]. And mentioned general information like that the welfare services are for everybody (no discrimination). I turned the next theoretical part into more of a conversation. We had a discussion session about the role of the guardian and why they do not have the right to forbid their children from using the services, or, why they can request these services for their children.

Kahoot went well. The winner however was disqualified, because they know too much - it was one of our tutors checking up on our sessions :-). In hindsight, maybe Kahoot was a bit too easy. Everybody answered correctly, the winner was decided based on their response time.

Other Sessions

The second presentation was about Inclusion and Accessibility. It was interesting to see a different image regarding equality vs equity (see below), than the one I have been accustomed with from .

Figure 1: Equality vs Equity

We learned about the teacher's role of providing teaching, guidance and support and that accessibility is supported by both the staff. However, in my experience, I had one situation where welfare services couldn't help. I had a student that was visually impaired and the content I was teaching had many visual elements. Having someone explain what is on the slides was not really possible as they needed to know the topic (computer science) but also be able to speak what the diagrams are visually describing (not easy), so I had to recreate part of the course in a non-visual way to make it accessible. We also learned about pedagogical accessibility which is something I apply in my work all the time, like here, where I teach the Pythagorean theorem in 3 different levels:

We also talked about other things that can help like sitting arrangements... and that it would be nice if students respect... and recognize when teachers are making an effort. There were very nice discussions about tailoring lessons for students with various capabilities and different levels of motivation.

The third session was about special needs education: students with learning disabilities, mental conditions and other disabling conditions. We were reintroduced to the VET Reform, which includes special support and intensive special support. Pedagogical needs can be divided in those:

• common to all
• specific to group (level)
• unique to individuals

As a reflection, I think it is very important when planning courses to consider 3 things:

1. what society needs
2. the group of students*
3. individual students*

*what they can handle depending on their current knowledge and capabilities. The third session concluded with a Padlet where we reflected on our skills and experiences.

The fourth session was on eco-social culture and sustainable development. As a pre-task we had to get familiar with the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. We had a discussion about the goals we are interested in and how our field can impact on those. We learned they are inter-related and solving one goal can impact on others as well. We also discussed about the situation in our native country. And the difficulty to make a change. In general, most of us are not comfortable with change: for example, if a software updates and we no longer find the functionalities. We consider this a frustrating situation and don't understand what are the benefits. Perhaps software updates should make it clear why some change happened not just that it did (personal reflection over). We learned that Finland is training students to acknowledge the goals by the time they are ready to make decisions. We also learned Greece is training teachers with these goals in mind and that in Australia there is an Education for Sustainability Alliance created to ensure that all Australians have the opportunity to learn the knowledge, skills, practices, and values of sustainability through the formal education system and throughout life. We discussed more about internationalization and about how the export education program can impact the world.

I didn't include a reflection section in this post, instead I've added personal thoughts above, where they fit.

REFERENCES

1. Student Welfare video from the City of Oulu
   https://youtu.be/Q3SuRK-ST6o
2. The pupil and student welfare act
   https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/2013/20131287
3. The act on Vocational Education and Training
   https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/2017/20170531
4. the Health Care Act
   https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/2010/20101326