I have added a tab for Orenia in a Nutshell, for all of you, who are interested in knowing the theoretical inspiration behind Orenia project, and the steps we aim to take in the project. Nevertheless, that's just for your info, and today's real topic is, what we could learn from informal learning, when we make arrangements for formal peer-group mentoring.
Seven peer mentors, who helped me to be a better teacher
1. Raija Partio, a colleague at Valkeakoski
When I was taking my pedagogical studies 1992 - 1993 I was working at Valkeakosken Seudun Kauppaoppilaitos. I learned a lot in the official teacher training program, but even more from my colleague Raija. At that time it was still typical that teachers were the stars in their classes, but Raija was different: in her classes it was the students, who were the Oscar winners for leading roles. She used projects and team work in her classes long before it was the standard approach. She had developed a whole host of tools for defining the topic, putting up the schedule, implementing the project, self assessment and peer assessment... And all these tools she shared openly with me (and other colleagues), when I needed to figure out, how my students could keep on learning, while I was taking my contact studies for teacher education, and the school had no money to hire a substitute teacher.
2. KOUK, Kauppaoppilaitoksen ulkoilukerho
This also took place in Valkeakoski. Every second Thursday the staff would walk together 10 kilometers, and after that they'd spend together the evening having a sauna and talking. The basic rule was that you always have to have a partner for the walk. Sometimes there were twenty participants, sometimes when the weather was severe, only two people took the walk, but it was never skipped. KOUK had a culture of its own. We gathered points, when we participated, and there were badges to collect long before gamification and badges became popular in education. Walking and talking with a colleague offered an excellent space for learning and developing. During the sauna sessions I as a novice teacher gained more knowledge on pedagogy than in any formal courses the school arranged for its staff.
3. Leena Mutanen, a colleague in Uusikaupunki
- You are a smart person, but your memos have a terrible layout. Let me teach you the standard layout, she once said.
That's how it started. Leena ended up being the first person, with whom I truly felt that teamwork is more effective than anything I can accomplish alone.
4. Johanna Junkkari, Kanslian mummo
At Merikosken ammatillinen koulutuskeskus Johanna worked officially at student affairs office, but her impact on the pedagogy of the Helsinki filial surpassed her official role. We'd sit in the coffee room and talk, we'd crawl on the floor and assemble computers, we'd refurnish the classrooms... to make the school a better place for learning.
5. Kari Kekkonen, the coordinator of Turku Group at HAAGA-HELIA School of Vocational Teacher Education
When I started at HAAGA-HELIA I was first a member of the Turku Group. In Turku the implementation was already at that time team-based both for the students and for the guidance counselors. I learned so much in our team meetings, where we planned together our implementation. We did concentrate on the beef, but there was also an opportunity to blow out steam, discuss family issues etc., if necessary. This added to the bond we had between team members.
6. My students
In my present job I'm very fortunate: I have an opportunity to learn from so many wonderful teachers in different fields and levels of vocational education. I'll just share one memory, which was an eyeopener for me. Maija was teaching non-stop implementation on painting. Somebody else could have complained, how difficult it was to handle a class where somebody was a newcomer while the other had already studied for more than two years, but Maija had made an art of using peer teaching in her class. She was able to allocate her time to each student separately, when the rest of the group knew, what to do for the next couple of hours.
7. Merja and Katri, partners in Orenia
In HAAGA-HELIA we usually work for a couple of years in fixed teams in the regular teacher education program. But along with that we have an opportunity to work in continuation education and in projects. It was during an international course that my road for a while was also Merja's and Katri's road. During that stretch I learned, what a powerful tool it is, when all guidance counselors participating in the program not only plan together, but also share their materials in Dropbox. I could follow, what M & K did during each class, and take that into account, when it was my turn to pop-in weeks later. I could also learn from the rhythm and structure of their materials (and the way they took the tiniest detail into account!).
All these seven cases are examples of informal knowledge sharing. The official organization never initiated the learning, which took place. It was accidental, unplanned, not necessarily in line with the organizations goals. These examples show that teachers and other members of the school community can actively participate in pedagogical development "undercover", without official authorization. The way I see it, this potential should also be harnessed to official development, and peer-group mentoring could provide an excellent arena for this systematic developmental work.
The takeaways from my seven cases could be:
- Culture matters, and so do emotions. This is often the delicate part, which makes it difficult to transform a voluntary activity to a formal activity.
- Faculty is not the only source of knowledge. Other staff members and students should also be involved somehow.
- Cross pollination is important. For trust building etc. it might be good to meet in a fairly fixed group, but inspiration and insights from a wider population are also welcome sometimes.
- Content and process. Sometimes the valuable learning one gets from the peers is related to the content the peers master, sometimes it is the tools they have adopted for leading the process, and sometimes it is not about sharing but more about creating together.
Or then it could be something completely different! As you can see, I am still stumping and stumbling my way to understand, what peer-group mentoring actually is, and how the model for it should be constructed! Any hints? Feel free to add a comment!
- Irmeli
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