Training of village school teachers in Finland: Multi-grade teaching and inclusion

• Multi-grade teaching encourages teacher´s and pupil´s freedom. Teachers can use the national curriculum in their teaching, but they are not bound by it. The main aim is to increase the joy and meaning of learning and the active role of different types of pupils. Freedom to learn is best for the pupil. Children can assess material appropriate to their own knowledge structure and learn from older classmates. Non-comparability between pupils – broadening the levels of requirements, making it more difficult and unnecessary for pupils to compare themselves with others. • Children can assess material appropriate to their own knowledge structure and learn from older classmates. • The role of pupils as bearers of responsibility is created according to their personalities, skills and desires. • Teacher finds out the difference between pupils and knows the child really well, their strengths and weaknesses when they go to the village school for 6–7 years. This article explores the practices and teaching approaches used in the diverse and inclusive multi-grade classrooms of Finland’s village schools and the holistic Nordic model of schooling. It also shows how teacher training in Finland might be developed. The context of Finnish village schools are explored together with background to initial teacher education and continuing professional development. A new model for village teacher education (CPD) in Finland was developed in 2016 and is presented here together with results of research projects carried out in 2017 and its more recent developments in 2022/24. The locality based teacher education model is informed by multi grade school systems such as the Nucleo school model and the Escuela Nueva model. This research also explored what teachers working in village schools see as the advantages of these small, multi-grade teaching and learning contexts. The research showed that teachers desire training in the new Finnish core curriculum, multi-grade teaching and ICT. The features of multi-grade teaching and learning identified by teachers include: freedom of teaching and learning, cooperation with parents, getting to know the child, a safe environment with classroom rules, strategies and a good atmosphere, the possibility to create learning situations for all kinds of learners, individuality and non-comparability between pupils and learning from other pupils. We argue that ITE and CPD for teachers in Finland should increase the effectiveness of all teachers in multi-grade settings. This would help teachers optimise pupil learning in all kinds of diverse, heterogeneous classes and develop their preparation for inclusive and simultaneously respond to the need to learn 21st century skills. We argue all teachers need to be supported in their efforts to develop different teaching Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation approaches and to increase their freedom of choice and that multigrade school settings are a perfect place to develop these skills.