Diverse student teachers making sense of difference through engaging in Boalian theater approaches

In many countries, educational and health policies currently highlight the need to develop schools towards health promotion settings for pupils and school staff. The aim of this three‐year follow‐up study was to investigate teachers’ assessments of goal attainment and possible changes in health promotion practices in the Finnish schools that participated in the Programme of European Network of Health Promoting Schools. The data were collected by questionnaires from teachers who also worked as ENHPS coordinators at the school level. The data analysis was statistical. The results showed that, overall, the infrastructure for health promotion was good at the participating Finnish schools. Based on the results of this Finnish ENHPS study, it can be concluded that the progress towards health‐promoting schools is demanding and requires action at the administrative level, such as appropriate planning of responsibilities, resources and training. Additionally, it requires modification of everyday practices for a school to become a health‐promoting setting.     

Mind the gap. Combining theory and practice in a field experience

In this article, we describe a collegial case study conducted in one Finnish university during the last field experience in a primary school teacher education program and discuss pedagogy of supervision from university supervisors’ perspectives. The aim of the study was to clarify the role of university supervisors and try out a collegial supervision approach to combine theory and practice in a field experience. We aimed to develop student teachers’ understanding of curriculum as an enacted phenomenon in which they have agency, and enhance their understanding of the development of language skills when working with young children. Our supervision was based on the importance of situated learning and Kolb’s experiential learning model. The results showed that a theory-based approach is possible and collegial supervision can add extra value to supervision. The student teachers became more aware of the different levels of curriculum and their meaning in teachers’ planning processes. They also gained more comprehensive understanding of primary school teachers’ possibilities to develop children’s language skills every day and in all subjects.