Aihearkisto: globaalistuminen

Learning new skills through Finnish vocational and professional qualifications in China


Gradia
 has launched two diploma programs with new Chinese partners during autumn 2019. Programs are joint efforts with EduCluster Finland.

Entrepreneurship as an exciting learning method

At Shanghai Modern Circulation School, 35 third-year business students aged 18-19, began studies in marketing communication and content production in October 2019 in accordance to the Finnish Vocational Qualification in Business. The program highlights entrepreneurship as a method in learning new skills and competences and gives a chance to complete one accredited Finnish module in business.

As a part of the program, students establish so-called mini-companies and learn the required competences by running those companies. Entrepreneurship is an efficient learning method. In addition to acquiring competence specific to business, students learn so-called 21st century skills like problem-solving, collaboration, communication.

The program is run by two Gradia experts, Ms Johanna Ärling and Ms Elina Maukonen, both working as business teachers at Gradia. They shared their observations and experiences just after their first two-week session in China.

Johanna tells that the training program is based on teamwork and hands-on exercises.
“Students really like the idea of learning by doing and having less traditional theory lectures. In our program, they have a permission to make mistakes and to learn from them. They appreciate the possibility of working in teams and sharing and testing their own ideas with working life representatives.”

Johanna and Elina have paid attention to the differences in Finnish and Chinese VET systems. In China the system is teacher-centered whereas in Finland we emphasis student-centeredness.” Teachers are running the classes in a traditional way and students are less active during the classes than in Finland.”

The Finnish pedagogy challenges the Chinese students to learn differently “They need to be active all the time, figuring out the answers and ideas by themselves,” says Elina. “Naturally a different learning and teaching culture challenges us Finnish teachers but once students get used to collaborative, hands-on learning methods, the results are very good,” adds Johanna who is experienced in running training programs in China.

Although there are some differences, there are lot of similarities as well. “Both in Finland and China we all want our students to have a good chance to find a job after the graduation,” says Johanna.

According to Johanna and Elina, Finnish VET qualifications are well applicable for the Chinese market. Finnish qualifications are competence-based and the competences are not dependent on national boundaries. “But since Chinese are not familiar with competence-based structured qualifications we need to explain the system and contents carefully and make them easy to understand.”

Johanna and Elina say that they have learnt a lot by working as an expert overseas. “We have learnt e.g. about the Chinese business life, education and culture. But certainly, to match training with local needs, more information is still needed. More information and experiences we have the better programs we are able to provide.”

Enhancing school-company collaboration

Development of school-company collaboration is one of the national priorities in Chinese vocational education and training. Cooperation is essential in increasing the quality and attractiveness of vocational education. Finland as a forerunner in developing different kind of work-based learning models has lot to share. Therefore, Gradia has developed the teacher training program called Skills Broker to improve the match between training provision and the needs of the industry. The first Skills Broker Teacher training program was successfully piloted in China in 2018-2019.

In September 2019, Gradia launched Skills Broker program for 30 teachers from Changzhou Technical Institute of Tourism and Commerce. Teachers are developing cooperation with local enterprises using the methodology of service design. The program has been aligned with a service design module from the Finnish Specialist Qualification in Product Development. Teachers who pass the program successfully will get an accredited Finnish diploma of completing part of the qualification. The program consists of intensive weeks in Changzhou, distance learning (team and development work) and competence assessment.

Ms Maritta Kinnunen, working as a lead expert in Skills Broker program shares the experiences of Johanna and Elina. “In China it seems that the education is more teacher-centered than in Finland – whereas we have an emphasis on student-centered learning and teaching. This means that the teachers in Skills Broker program are not only getting tools to develop school-company collaboration but also tools for promoting student-centered methods in their own teaching.”

More information Kirsi Koivunen (at)gradia.fi

innoVET -tapaaminen Tanskassa

Hanna Frilander, Antti Lehtinen, Heini Pennanen, Jaana Virtanen

innoVet/ Digital Ambassador, 9 .-12.9.2018,  Århus, Tanska

InnoVet -verkostossa on mukana ammatillisen koulutuksen toimijoita viidestä maasta: GBS St. Gallen, Sveitsi, Aarhus TECH, Tanska, IBJ -verkosto, Saksa, Horizon College,  Hollanti ja Gradia, Suomi. Verkosto on tavannut aiemmin muutamia kertoja Saksassa ja Hollannissa. Verkoston tavoitteena on tutustua eri maiden digioppimisen käytänteisiin ajatuksella: ”VET glocal – a perspective for new ways of teaching, learning and training with digitalization“.

Tanskan vierailun tavoitteena oli esitellä oppilaitosten Digital Ambassador / eTutor -toimintaa ja hioa eteenpäin yhdessä Gradian ja BBS Wilhelmshaven aloittamaa Benchmark Table -ideaa. Tavoitteena on vertailla verkoston it- ja digipedagogisia käytänteitä.

Kuulimme esityksiä maiden käytänteistä. Totesimme, että ongelmat ja haasteet ovat samankaltaiset meillä kaikilla. Johtuen verkoston maiden lainsäädännöstä, käytänteistä, tulkinnoista ja koulujen toimintamalleista, ratkaisut vaihtelevat eri maissa. Esimerkiksi Hollannissa ja Saksassa on eTutor-toiminta suunnitteilla, Suomessa toiminta on alkanut jo 2009. Sveitsin eTutor-toimintamallissa kiinnostavaa oli sujuva keskusteluyhteys opettajatasolta korkeimpaan johtoon saakka. Tanska eTutor-malli oli tällä hetkellä suunniteltu tukemaan muuttuvaa digitaalista oppimisympäristöä. Meiltä Hanna ja Heini esittelivät Gradian eTutor-toimintaa verkostolle. Kiinnostusta verkostossa herätti Gradian saama kansallinen rahoitus eTutor-toiminnan kehittämiseen.

Huomioitavaa Digital Ambassador / eTutor -toiminnassa oli, että meillä resursointi oli hyvin pieni per eTutor verrattuna muihin maihin.  Esim. Hollannin tavoite eTutorille oli 2 työpäivää per viikko. eTutorin työ on sidottu koulutusalojen ja organisaation tavoitteisiin. Tanskan ja Saksan eTutor-mallit nivoutuivat pitkälti oppimisympäristöihin. Tanskassa oli resursoitu kolmelle ”superuserille” työaikaa oppimisympäristön käyttöönottoon ja digipedagogiseen tukeen (mm. verkkokurssien rakentaminen).

Tanskassa Aarhus Tech oli rakentanut digipalvelut kahden esimiehen malliksi, jossa toinen vastasi IT-tuen organisoinnista ja toinen tietoturvasta sekä strategiasta. Heidän ajatuksensa, toiminta- ja palvelumallinsa oli hyvin pitkälti samanlainen kuin meillä; käytössä oli mm. Microsoftin tuotteet. Oppimisympäristönä on ItsLearning. Heillä IT-tuessa työskentelee 10 työntekijää, jotka keskittyvät vain ja ainoastaan IT-tukeen. Meillä Digipalvelujen sisällä toimivat lisäksi opetusteknologia ja opintotietojärjestelmän tuki. Opiskelijamäärä oli suhteessa pienempi kuin Gradiassa. Oma huomiomme oli, että Digipalvelujen uusi organisointi antaa mahdollisuuksia parantaa ja kehittää palvelua yhdessä. Meidän mallimme herätti kiinnostusta.

Mielestämme verkostotapaamiset ja benchmarking ovat hyvä tapa vertailla eri maiden oppilaitosten kulttuureja ja toimintatapoja. Digipedagogiikan kenttä on vielä monimuotoinen ja osin määrittämätön. Kansainvälinen yhteistyö auttaa näkemään syntyviä työnkuvia eri maista, uudenlaiselle työlle alkaa löytyä muoto. On hyvä nähdä myös kv-verkoston avulla, että olemme joissakin asioissa digipedagogiikassa edellä ja joissakin taas olemme jäljessä esim. Sveitsin malli tiedonkulusta eTutor-mallissa.

InnoVET -verkosto kokoontuu seuraavan kerran Jyväskylässä maaliskuussa 2019.

Lisätietoja Jaana Virtanen, digipalvelut

 

GBS St. Gallen in Jyväskylä

Board  members of GBS St. Gallen from Switzerland have visited Jyväskylä Educational Consortium for two very  intensive days 24-25 August 2017. 

The visitors were given an extensive overview of the organisation, education system and all the development going on at the moment. GBS St. Gallen is since several years a partner for the media  sector (printing, photography). They are also one of the external partners in the KA2 project Commercialpolis. One of the concrete aims of this visit was to expand this cooperation to other fields and to the strategic level as well.

Amongst many other things the principals and managers of GBS St Gallen (name list below) were introduced to Finnish vocational teacher training,  development regarding digitalisation of both processes and learning, quality assurance, language teaching and guidance processes. Teacher training was presented by Harri Keurulainen, Hannele Torvinen and Tuulia Kiilavuori from JAMK Teacher Education College.

Thursday afternoon the visitors met with Principal Pirjo Kauhanen to discuss the organisational changes and the VET reform.

Friday morning was devoted to regional development and global partnerships presented by Director of Development Anu Tokila and Programme Manager Marleena Tuuri.

 

During the visit both parties found out that, although there are significant systemic level differences, there are a lot of similiarities on strategic level that can be advanced through cooperation between the two VET providers. In the more immediate future there is hope to work on issues around digitalisation as well as staff and student mobilities. We are expecting the first mobilities to take place during this school year from electrical engineering and hairdressing programmes.

Participants from GBS St. Gallen

  • Lukas Reichle, director of GBS
  • Daniel Kehl,  deputy-director of GBS, head of vocational education and training at GBS
  • Thomas Klement, head of the technical departement of GBS
  • Patrik Forrer, head of the school of design of GBS
  • Nicole Bauer, head of KSD – social care team of GBS
  • Jürg Pfeiffer, head of paedagogical advice and support team of GBS
  • Michael Andrist, head of IT at GBS

More information on the Commercialpolis project:

http://www.commercialpolis.eu/project/about-commercialpolis/ project

Picture credit: Daniel Kehl

More information: Rea Tuominen, international coordinator

 

More visitors from VWNotts

Jyväskylä Educational Consortium had the pleasure of hosting Mr. Andrew King (Director of Innovation and Strategy) and Ms. Kadri Saat (International Coordinator)  from our partner college in Mansfield, UK for three days between 10-12 April 2017.

The visit was short and intensive covering many areas of mutual interest including entrepreneurship education, management of the blended learning (VET & Adults), use of technology, plans for the future as well as relationships with employers (delivery and what part they play in VET) and relationship with HE and progressions for VET learners.

Kadri Saat, Pirjo Kauhanen and Andrew King

The visitors impressions were very positive and although the visit was short  we were able to indentify several areas where we can continue cooperation and learn from each other. When asked to mention three main takeaways from the meetings and discussions they had during their visit Andrew and Kadri mentioned the following:

Firstly,  the relationship you have with the local employers: the way you nurture these, the impact to the skills and competencies from an extended on-the-job learning and how the end competency test is often completed at the workplace.

Then, how the entrepreneurship is embedded across the college and how all students are encouraged to establish and run mini companies with the support from the college.

The partnership and strong collaborative work that you do with two local universities. The new centrally based joint company to share the resource, expertise and support the progression.”

Andrew King, Jaana Virtanen and Hanna Frilander visiting the new facilites at Harju Campus.

Kadri and Andrew would like to thank everyone who participated in their visit: Pirjo Kauhanen, Anu Tokila, Maarit Kaija, Hanna Rajala,  Niina Helin, Pia Kotro,  Sinikka Luukainen, Sari Mynttinen, Mira Ahtila, Milka Niskanen, Minna Ahokas, Jaana Virtanen, Hanna Frilander & Markku Tarvainen.

More information: Rea Tuominen p.6159

http://www.wnc.ac.uk/

Kansainvälinen toiminta esillä oppilaitoksissa Kulttuurit kotona –tapahtumassa 21.-24.11.

Jyväskylän ammattiopiston Avointen ovien viikolla vietetyn Kulttuurit kotona- tapahtuman aikana saatiin tänä vuonna nauttia upeista eri maita ja kulttuureja kuvaavista esittelypisteistä, kun koulutuskuntayhtymän oppilaitosten opiskelijat esittelivät ja jakoivat kokemuksiaan kotimaistaan sekä muun muassa ulkomailla suoritetuista työssäoppimisjaksoista. Eri kulttuurit ja kansainvälinen toiminta olivat esillä muun muassa ruuan, musiikin, pukeutumisen ja postereiden muodossa. Lisäksi osana Kulttuurit kotona-tapahtumaa esitettiin Twibuke – muistakaa! –draamaelokuva, jonka kahdessa näytöksessä oli yhteensä noin 100 katsojaa.

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Kiitos kaikille tapahtumassa mukana olleille ja tapahtumaan osallistuneille!