A new entrepreneurial spirit is being fostered in schools in Finland with an entrepreneurship training that focuses on learning-by-doing, nudging teachers to keep a habit of lifelong learning.
TECHNOLOGY CHANGES SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURES
Technology is changing social and economic structures, creating new frameworks for work, entrepreneurship, and citizenship. At the same time, the social exclusion of young people and an ageing population are challenges that require new solutions. A new spirit of entrepreneurship is therefore sorely needed in Finland with a recognition of the significant potential among young people, immigrants, and academic degree holders.
learning-by-doing
Schools have introduced an extensive entrepreneurship training programme in order to support entrepreneurial pedagogy. For public and higher education institutions, the training programme improves the competences of their personnel and promotes entrepreneurship as part of their operational culture. The Competent Teachers – Entrepreneurial Youths project offers agile and modern training to suit the needs of educational institutions, and to reinforce teachers' lifelong learning. This approach has created innovative education methods, which have already been implemented outside the project. As an example of this, the first digital badges for teachers with entrepreneurial education were introduced in Finland. Finally, to challenge the traditional lecturing format, the training is built around a 10-30-70 model of on-the-job learning; this means 10% lectures, 30% learning from others, and 70% learning-by-doing.
NATIONWIDE TRAINING IN FINLAND
Since the project was launched in 2015, nearly 9,000 teachers, teacher trainers, and students have participated in the training. Approximately 7,200 of them are teachers in secondary or tertiary educational institutions. The rest, approximately 1,500 people, are student teachers or teacher trainers. Training events have been held nationwide in Finland, with 50 to 60 training events held each year, or more than 200 events since the start of the project. Furthermore, the project has led to the production of various training materials for teachers.
