University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

Teaching at the university is much more than just lecturing. Hanna Korsberg, chair of the Teachers’ Academy, considers herself a senior colleague of her students. She and three other teachers now share what good teaching really requires.

University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

Teaching is one of the most valued professions in Finland. The high level of training provides a high level of education.

University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

It is teachers' responsibility to surprise the students by how much they can learn, believes an awarded teacher Martin Björklund. He has been teaching public law for over a decade and has also developed his teaching constantly. “One of the insights I have gained is that I’m not getting paid for uttering as many words and displaying as many PowerPoint slides as possible in 90 minutes.”

University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

“The teaching staff of the programme is very knowledgeable and passionate about their areas of research, and work collaboratively with each other to support students’ research. The warm and friendly atmosphere that the members of the faculty create encourages me to approach them to discuss my work without hesitation.” Yu Zi is a student in the International Master’s Programme in English Studies at the University of Helsinki. The programme combines areas that are often separated elsewhere: English language and linguistics, literature in English and the teaching of English. You will become an expert in the language that is often used as the lingua franca of science, business, culture, and tourism. You can apply to our International Master's Programmes as of 3 December 2018 until 11 January 2019.

University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

“The success of the Finnish school system largely rests on the highly skilled teachers with master’s level academic qualifications. They are willing and able to further develop their teaching,” Professor Jari Lavonen states. He is an international expert in education, who has been involved in the strategic planning and development of teacher education for over three decades. "Individual innovations cannot solve the problems of teaching and learning.”

University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

At the end of the first teaching period, all first-year Bachelor’s students at the University of Helsinki have something in common: knowing what it’s like to study in the new degree programmes. The number of application options in last spring’s joint application procedure went down to 63 from the previous year’s 102. For example, the four Bachelor’s programmes at the Faculty of Social Sciences contain a total of 11 disciplines. Creating such extensive combinations has been challenging for the teaching staff, but Benjamin Pitkänen, a student of the Bachelor’s Programme in Society and Change feels that their work has been successful. “So far the different topics have been well balanced. It’s also nice that the range and perspectives of the topics are broader than just one discipline could offer,” he says.

University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

In addition to housekeeping and cooking of everyday food, Finnish home economics classes teach diversity and equality, interaction, orderliness and responsibility. Increasing attention is paid to sustainable development and breaking gender role stereotypes in home economics teaching.

University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

When University Lecturer Maria Kela from the Department of Teacher Education heard that asylum seekers in Helsinki cannot participate in Finnish classes as of the beginning of October, she decided to take action: "Due to the tendering process, Finnish courses are on hiatus until the end of the year. So I suggested to my students of subject didactics in Finnish as a second language that instead of coursework we could do actual work," Kela says. The students responded with enthusiasm. Together with a graphic designer and video professional working pro bono, they are developing a website which will allow anyone to teach beginner-level Finnish to asylum seekers. In addition to the Finnish-language teaching, different departments and disciplines at the University of Helsinki have made spontaneous initiatives to help asylum seekers and refugees. The 'University of Helsinki Says Welcome' event brings the University community and asylum seekers together in November and December.

University of Helsinki posted on Facebook

The days of closed research environments are over. The future of research lies in extensive open datasets and open source code, says data scientist Kimmo Vehkalahti, who is teaching open science methods to social scientists.