Preparing for tomorrow’s world
“It's fun, and you get to communicate with young people from other countries. You learn a lot, and it also helps those who find school a bit boring,” explains Sanin who is a pupil at Apelgårdskolan in Malmö.
Sanin attended the Nordic@Bett conference in London in January, at which Nordic CRAFT was presented. Along with 500 teachers and pupils from all over the Nordic Region, he is helping to develop the competencies that will be needed in the future. Nordic@Bett has been focusing on innovative teaching for several years. It is run by the by the National Agency for Education (FI), the Agency for IT and Learning (DK), the National Agency for Education (SE) and the Centre for ICT in Education (NO). Nordic@Bett provides an opportunity for teaching professionals to meet, talk and swap information about co-operation, innovation and technology in elementary schools.
“We hope that participants will go home with new inspiration about practical ways to work together on innovation, problem solving and other aspects of the competencies needed in the 21st century, with the focus on IT and understanding technology. This applies across disciplines and borders,” says Pernille Dalgaard-Duus of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
We hope that participants will go home with new inspiration about practical ways to work together on innovation, problem solving and other aspects of the competencies needed in the 21st century, with the focus on IT and understanding technology. This applies across disciplines and borders.
The future will very much be about working together, unlike when we went to school. In those days, competition was more important. It's not like that anymore. Now it's about working together digitally.
Digital co-operation
Developing schools and teaching in a way that motivates pupils and teachers and provides them with the skills they will need in order to function properly in the society of the future is an important issue for the Nordic countries. As part of their general education, children, young people and adults all need to learn to do more than just consume media and technology. They need to develop the competencies to use technology to think and create as part of problem-solving in everyday life. It is important to be inquisitive and critical about digital technology as well.
Jennie Ingelsson, who teaches at Apelgårdskolan in Malmö says that the project will help students acquire knowledge in different ways than they have done in schools in the past.
“The future will very much be about working together, unlike when we went to school. In those days, competition was more important. It's not like that anymore. Now it's about working together digitally,” Ingelsson explains.
Together we are better
Nordic Craft is the tool that the Nordic countries have chosen to make them leaders in the field. Gun Oker-Blom, director of The Finnish National Agency for Education and member of the Nordic Craft Steering Group is convinced that the Nordic countries are stronger together.
“The purpose of Nordic Craft is to support Nordic co-operation. The Nordic countries are similar, and the digitalisation process in society and school are the same. When we look at the process in our different countries, it is the same, but the pace is slightly different in terms of the work on our curricula and the development of our digital strategies in teaching. These are areas in which we can support and learn from each other,” he says.
