Chasing a Gold-standard Education

Educational Tourism

What is educational tourism? A simple definition would be an experience designed for education-and-culture-enthusiasts to learn first-hand about a country known for achieving and maintaining an enviable, gold-standard education system. When I decided to visit Finland in 2022 as part of the International Specialised Skills Institute (ISSI) fellowship I received in 2020, I wanted to explore why and how Phenomenon-Based Learning (PhBL) was implemented in Finland in 2016.

Finland

Why Finland? Almost a decade ago, I was lured by an article on my Facebook feed. I know what you're thinking! Since when is Facebook a reliable source? Well, hear me out! What caught my eye was the title - something along the lines of how Finnish classrooms were abolishing the teaching of traditional subjects and switching to PhBL where students chose what they learnt with support from their teachers. I fell for the journalistic trick, which in that particular instance employed half-truths, misinformation and manufactured evidence to sell the story. I was surely clickbaited!

I did not forget the story though. So when I applied for the ISSI fellowship, I wanted to learn more about this educational phenomenon. The more I researched, the more intrigued I became. Numerous articles on this pedagogy and two specific videos (by Donna Fields and Irmeli Halinen) fed my curiosity. Gradually, what once felt utopian, seemed more real and implementable. However, it was only after reading a Master thesis written by Rajani Prakash Naik from the University of Jyväskylä (2019) that I realised how exaggerated and misguided the news report from 2014 was. Instead of removing subjects from school, the Finnish education system introduced student-driven projects on the phenomenon of their choice once every school term to complement their learning and to engage them in proactively and responsibly determining the content of their study. It was too exciting and too good to be true. I HAD TO GO to Finland to learn more.

Despite having a clear goal, my problem was finding the right contacts - individuals and organisations who could host me in my fact-finding mission.

Planning an Educational Tour Independently

Can you plan an educational tour yourself? For sure. At least, that's what I thought in early 2022! Being naive, and too enthusiastic and optimistic at times, I thought finding the connections on my own would be no big deal.

• I did my research with due diligence and contacted a number of educators, academics, bureaucrats and administrators who had direct involvement with PhBL.

• I used my status as a fellow and the endorsement from my sponsors ( ISSI and Victorian Skills Authority) to establish my authenticity and genuineness as a researcher.

• I reached out to 28 individuals through emails and LinkedIn messages.

• I kept a detailed record of my correspondence and followed up with emails/messages when there was no response.

• I also sent emails around 5:55 pm Melbourne time hoping mine would be the first emails the recipients would see when they opened their inbox.

Unfortunately, the response rate wasn't great, and in most instances, there was none. My hope to travel in late August to take advantage of the Finnish summer was gradually fading.

Thank Goodness for Educational Tour Operators

With a bruised ego and depleted enthusiasm, I soldiered on. I changed my tactics a bit. Instead of contacting academics and research scholars, I contacted the Education Division (ED) of the City of Helsinki and some local schools hoping to find at least one host. Even though I had responses this time around, I ended up in a communication loop, being tossed back and forth by the school authorities and the ED. The schools asked me to speak to the office of ED and ironically, the department asked me to get in touch with the schools. It was mid-March. The clock was ticking. With only four months remaining, I had to think outside the box.

I Googled 'private agencies+school visits+Finland'. My search led me to my saviours, two private tour operators called VisitEDUfinn and CCE Finland. They offered me clarity, and guidance, and most importantly, assurance that I would be able to visit educational institutes and speak with experienced educators. And all this was organised from the comfort of my home. What was the catch, you might ask. Well, it wasn't free! Like any other tour operator, organising educational tours is their day job and they need to earn enough to stay afloat.

I corresponded with Johanna from VisitEDUfinn. Within a short time, she scheduled two full-day and one evening visits to two separate adult education providers in Vantaa and Helsinki. She also organised a guided tour of Helsinki with Leena, a Finnish Fulbright scholar and an education expert with decades of experience within the education system. Although the package cost me €990, I was excited. Was that value for money? Only time could tell.

Heramb, my contact at CCE Finland, is a co-founder of the organisation. After working for tech giant Nokia for years, Heramb switched to education. His wisdom and unique take on the Finnish education system were insightful. He believes in finding individuals with the right personality and attitude towards the teaching roles and trusting them to do their job once they are fully qualified. Heramb also explained why I might not have heard back from most of the Finnish educators I'd contacted. Apparently, they are so used to receiving emails and possibly fan mail from education enthusiasts around the world that they tend to just ignore such emails.

At Heramab's suggestion, I attended a virtual tour of a Finnish secondary school and enrolled in an online certificate course on PhBL. Through the €90-course, I gained invaluable first-hand experience of the pedagogy and its actual implementations. I felt better prepared for my trip.

Some Unexpected Good Fortune

Bolstered by the confirmation from Johanna and the learning experience with CCE Finland, I started preparing for the upcoming trip, which involved reading up on Finland and PhBL and watching countless travel videos. It was sheer luck that I found a video about Irene Kangasniemi, the co-founder and beating heart of Hornwork, a sustainable handicrafts workshop in Rovaniemi showcasing artefacts made with reindeer antlers and bones and other natural materials and educating visitors about the history, culture, mythology and life of the indigenous Sami people. It did not seem like an experience we could miss. I contacted Irene and booked a session. Rovaniemi was added to our itinerary.

The second unexpected outcome was the approval from the Education Division (ED) of the City of Helsinki. After a couple of months of scrutiny, the ED finally approved my request to interview some of their policymakers. After a few more rounds of emailing, I secured appointments with Immeli-Vänskä Kati and Marjo Kyllonen at the ED office. It was all finalised on the day we left for Finland in late August.

Cultural Experiences in Rovaniemi

I wanted to meet and interview two academics from the University of Lapland, but it didn't eventuate as they were both overseas when we visited Rovaniemi. Their unavailability allowed us plenty of time to explore the three iconic attractions of Rovaniemi: Korundi House of Culture, Arktikum and Pilke Science Center. The carefully curated exhibits in these places represent the history, art, culture, mythology and natural phenomena of Finnish Lapland in the most impressive and interactive ways.

We visited Irene's workshop on our second day in Rovaniemi and it was a most rewarding experience and a sensory delight.

Tupur has already written about this three-day visit to Rovaniemi. You can read it here.

Helsinki with Leena

We met Leena at our pre-arranged location outside Helsinki City Museum. She took us to an olden-day classroom in the museum. The venue was perfect for an exchange of ideas on education. Having Tupur and ShNaajh was handy as they became my photographer and videographer, which allowed me to concentrate on the actual interview. The interview took about 10 minutes and we managed to do it in one take! We set everything up so well and acted our parts so brilliantly that other visitors avoided the room thinking some serious filming was going on!

After the interview, Leena gave us a tour of Helsinki. It was a perfect example of educational tourism as I learnt about the history of the pedagogy from a local educator's perspective while exploring parts of the society and culture that implemented the model.

Tupur's post 'Helsinki in One Day' Challenge! was inspired by this walk.

Spending time at Vantaa Adult Education Institute

My two-day placement, organised by Joahanna, was at Vantaan Aikuisopisto. This community college offers basic education for adults, mainly immigrants, before they are eligible to study at a high school or vocational school. Located in the Vantaa municipality, just 20 kilometres from Helsinki city centre, the institute reminded me of my workplace and the Foundation Skills programs we deliver in Melbourne for students from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds. I felt at home. Principal Ms. Auli Soinio was my host. She gave me a tour of the college before introducing me to her colleagues. I spent two whole days there shadowing the teachers, observing and participating in their lessons, informally and formally interviewing them, and most importantly, co-teaching the English class run by Sirkuu, an experienced local teacher.

I need to mention a couple of things that stood out for me.

First, the Finnish concept of universal basic education, especially how they adapted it to programmes for refugees and asylum seekers, is commendable. Students at Vantaan Aikuisopisto learn not only Finnish, English and Swedish, but also an array of mainstream subjects such as Geography, and Mathematics. This ensures that they have equal opportunity when they are competing against local jobseekers to enter the workforce. Also, the participants need to study for a longer period to gain a moderate command over Finnish and possibly English, the languages they will need to use every day.

Second, I loved the practice of providing free lunch to the students and teachers as it ensured that one of the basic needs was met when someone came to class. The lunch was served at the nearest high school. I walked there with the other staff. The food was wholesome and filling.

Afternoon classes at Töölö High School for Adults

Johanna also organised my visit to Töölö High School for Adults. Marja-Leena, the Principal, gave me a tour of the multiple floors before I was taken to a class. I spent nearly three hours there, which was just enough to interact with both teachers and students from three different classes. Many students I met were either asylum seekers or refugees and seemed keen learners. They attended afternoon classes because they either had work commitments or family responsibilities during the day. Afternoon classes ran from 3:15 pm to 8:00 pm. I expected this school to also teach three languages and several mainstream subjects, which they did.

I was pleasantly surprised that the school also provided an evening snack and a hot drink to its students and staff. This surely incentivised attendance. During the break, one of the teachers took me to the cafeteria on the ground floor and handed me a slip to get a pulla (bun) and a hot chocolate from the counter.

Visiting the Education Division (ED) of the City of Helsinki

I was excited about visiting the ED office as it is instrumental in implementing PhBL in Helsinki. My first meeting was with Immeli-Vänskä Kati. Kati spent a fair bit of time explaining the different stages of the Finnish implementation of PhBL in classroom teaching. She also shared with me a wide range of successful PhBL-inspired projects at Finnish schools, and more importantly, the planning tools that ED has produced for both teachers and students to guide their implementation of PhBL.

Then I met with Marjo Kyllonen, a member of the think tank heavily involved in the implementation of PhBL in Finland. I was eager for this meeting since watching her Ted Talk on ‘Redesigning Education for the Future’. Being able to interview her, and that too at her place of work, seemed surreal. Marjo’s passion and enthusiasm for the future of education was palpable. We discussed how, as a pedagogy, PhBL allowed students to experience transversal learning so that they could think flexibly and shape the environment around them. Avant-garde, for sure.

Interactions with Kati and Marjo enriched me and gave me valuable resources to explore PhBL at greater length.

After returning from Finland, it took me another year to write the report and complete the fellowship. The report was published in January 2024. I am indebted to the educational tour for giving me the conceptual clarity and practical experience I needed to implement PhBL in the Foundation Skills delivery to the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse students in Victoria.

Tips for Educational Tourists

• Make sure you have a business card, or eCard these days, with a link to your LinkedIn page as well as the page of the organisation you work for. This will give you credibility.

• Install a mobile phone application that can record and transcribe interviews.

• Take permission forms. Make sure they cover the main formats (e.g. audio-visual and printed) and social media platforms.

• If possible, enrol in relevant online courses and attend virtual tours and webinars.

• Take extensive notes, photos and videos during your trip, and if possible, maintain a journal.

• Make sure your phone has enough storage!

• Visit the key museums in the countries you visit to better understand their society, history and culture.