Teacher education in Finland

by

Tun Min

Introduction

Finnish teachers are highly trained professionals. Since they have strong professional autonomy, they need to undergo high training level (Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE), n.d.-a, para.1). Further, it is strongly believed in Finland that pre-service teacher education is “the most important arena for developing professional knowledge” (Afdal, 2012, p.169). Hence, this essay will first present how teacher education policy originated and developed in Finland. Next, it will turn to how student teachers are normally selected and how initial Finnish teacher education is being implemented. Then, the author will make a brief explanation of teacher recruitment and in-service teacher training that were covered by one of the group members during the seminar presentation, before concluding the essay.

Bilingual education policy in Northern Territory of Australia, the implications on its development for educational leaders and its impact on the NT curricula

Tun Min

Introduction

One of the aims of the Australian national language policy is to support Indigenous language programs or to support the formal instruction of Indigenous languages in schools in Australia (Our Languages, 2016a, para.3). However, there seems to be occasional inconsistencies with this aim if the past practices of the Australian government are scrutinized. Bilingual education programs have been among the most significant Indigenous language programs in Australia. In this essay, the focus will be on bilingual education programs undertaken by the Indigenous people in Northern Territory. The essay will start with the definition of the term “bilingual education”, followed by an overview of the origin and development of bilingual education policy in Australia and Northern Territory. Next, it will discuss how education leaders in Northern Territory implicated the bilingual education policy and occasional pressures on it. Then, the consequences of this policy initiative on the current contexts of Northern Territory with an emphasis on its impact on the NT curriculum and alternative future directions for positive conditions for bilingual education will be analysed before concluding the essay.

The definition of bilingual education and a description of BE programs

Since the focus of this essay will be mainly associated with the term “bilingual education” (BE), it is deemed appropriate to define BE, discuss the main features of BE and present relevant BE programs in Northern Territory in this section.

Online plagiarism

Online plagiarism

 by

Tun Min

Introduction

With a boost in information and communication technology (ICT) nowadays, there are more and more ICT-based educational practices. Such a development has also been coupled with benefits and risks. Disputably one of the prominent risks in the academic circle these days seems to be that easy access to the Internet, one of the essential ICT tools, has helped more individuals plagiarise (Baggaley & Spencer, 2006; Morgan & Vaughn, 2015; Howard & Davies, 2009; Townley & Parsell, 2005; Embleton & Helfer, 2007). This article first presents the definition of ‘online plagiarism’ along with the term ‘plagiarism.’ Next, it describes why students plagiarize. Then it discusses how it impacts students, teachers and educational institutions. Finally, it suggests how education system of a particular country can do to solve it and how the present author as an educator intends to solve the problem.