• Home
• /
• Education

Finnish education model in two capital schools

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) recently signed an agreement with EduCluster Finland Ltd to train Emirati school teachers on the best teaching methodologies and implement the Finnish education system model in two select public schools.

EduCluster Finland is a business network which promotes domestic and international business in the educational branch. “The Finnish curriculum and method of teaching is recognized internationally as developing well-rounded and innovative students,” said Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, director general of ADEC.

As part of the five-year long agreement, Finnish teachers will be working closely with their UAE peers, training them in modern, child-centred methods of teaching.

Around 42 Emirati teachers from select public schools will also have the opportunity to develop their skills through in-house professional development programmes, and through the opportunity to attend university courses to obtain a Master’s degree from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland.

“The UAE teachers will be going to Finland as well to be trained on the standards of teaching, learn Finland’s teaching methodologies and teaching tools.

“It is important for us to train the teachers and acquire the necessary skills... as this will be beneficial for us in future,” stated Dr Al Khaili.

Once fully-trained, the teachers will receive a certificate of teacher qualification as required by the Finnish education system.

As pilot phase, the Abu Dhabi-Finnish School Programme will be applied on two primary schools (from KG1 to Grade 5) starting from the 2010-2011 school year, the Al Ameen Primary School for Boys in Abu Dhabi and Hili Primary School for Girls in Al Ain.

The programme will focus on strengthening the subjects taught in English such as Math, Science, IT (Information Technology) and English language by the Finnish teachers, and those in Arabic including Islamic Studies, Social Studies and the Arabic language by the Emirati teachers.

“Every child matters in terms of competence-building; in their first language and home culture, in developing hands-on skills for their future personal working lives (and) in using English as a global means of communication. In Finland, we have steadily adapted our education system to try and bring out the very best of each and every child,” said Pekka Peltonen, CEO of EduCluster Finland Ltd.

In an endeavour to improve the level of education in Abu Dhabi, ADEC will introduce a new school model starting next academic year for the KG1 to Grade 3. This will then be implemented on the next level in the succeeding school years until it is fully implemented across all levels.

“At the moment, we have four models of schools in Abu Dhabi, however we will standardise the model starting next year for Cycle 1, then we will move on to standardise the higher levels the year after. We will unify and standardise the curriculum,” said Dr Al Khaili. The signing was also attended by the Finnish Ambassador to the UAE Matti Lassila.