Teaching In Finland Query

[KaarinaLS]

Hi,
I've had a good look through the boards, and I'm looking for some information about teaching in Finland.

My background: I'm a half-Finn, born and raised in England (so an EU citizen). I've got a BA(hons) in English and Music, a TEFL diploma and a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCE) in English and Drama at Secondary Level (age 11-18) with Qualified Teacher Status. I have 4 years experience of teaching English and Drama at English secondary schools, and 2 years experience teaching English, Maths, Music and French at an English primary school (age 7-11). I have fair understanding of Finnish, and fairly good basic conversation, but I am aware that my Finnish skills will need work and I am very eager to do this.

I'm aware that Finnish teachers are educated to a very high level, and I was wondering if anyone knows if my qualifications would transfer to allow me to teach in a main-stream school or international school in Finland, as I am a fully qualified teacher (in the UK)?
Also, could anyone please point me to where the jobs for teachers are advertised?

Thank you.
KaarinaLS

[onkko]

About transferring qualifications i would contact OAJ http://www.oaj.fi/cs/oaj/etusivu thats teachers union.
Jobs are mostly in mol.fi because of rules about goverment jobs so every job has to be open to all.
Before you look at jobs you should know that by law you have to have certain education before you can work as teacher. So look at OAJ first to get your papers. You also need papers from police that you arent child molester what isnt problem if you arent one.

[Rosamunda]

Basically, to be a subject teacher (eg at a secondary school) you need an MA in that subject. That also determines your pay level. A PGCE is not considered to be an MA. To be an primary school teacher you need an MA in specialising primary years education.

However, over the years I have met many teachers from the UK, USA, Canada etc who teach here in state schools and they do not all have the equivalent of the Finnish qualifications, but they do have experience and references. As mentioned, you do need to go through the bureaucracy (and expense) of getting your foreign qualifications translated and validated by the National Board of Education. http://www.oph.fi/download/124837_Recog ... inland.pdf

The best way to get started is to look for maternity leave replacement posts and then, if they like you, if the students like you and you do a good job, that may lead to another maternity replacement. Getting a full-time permanent position is more tricky without the MA and they will always find a way of paying you less than your Finnish co-workers. As mentioned, mol.fi is where they are advertised (but there won't be much on there for this academic year of course).

You could also consider working in vocational education and training as there are many courses taught in English in the University of Applied Sciences (ammattikorkeakoulu) and in the Technical colleges (ammattikoulu). You mentioned international schools, the IB World Schools generally advertise on their own webpages but you can probably also find them in Mol. As they are also state-funded, the rules regarding the qualifications of the teaching staff are pretty much the same as everywhere else. Google a list of IB schools in Finland (17 of them) and there are also some bilingual (Fin-Eng) mainstream Finnish schools in the bigger municipalities.

Speaking some Finnish will be a huge advantage.

If you plan to stay here and teach, you really need to think (long term) about getting a Masters, but it might even be possible to do that while you are working.

[Pursuivant]

So in other words, you'd get a job as a teaching temp (with substantially lower pay) as an "unqualified teacher" - but you couldn't get a tenure. The higher up the ladder you go to say polytechnics or vocational/adult education, the less stringent the teaching qualifications get.

Your EU qualifications of course will be recognized, but they won't qualify you to a level not achieved.