VISCED

Finland's innovative approach to special needs is summarised in a short video available now on Edutopia. Early intervention and sustained individual support for every student are keys to educating the whole child in Finnish schools.Teachers explain their approach which includes obligatory weekly meetings for all teachers, an extensive student welfare service and as early intervention as possible. Key concerns and drivers of the Finnish system are equity and quality.

In almost every conversation on education reform these days, Finland's education system inevitably comes up. "Finlandophilia," as one reporter called it, is growing because of the country's top-ranking status on international tests, among other measures, and because this success comes through very different policies and practices than those that are the norm in the United States. A conference held at Stanford University on 17-18 January brought together academic and policy experts from the United States and Finland to identify effective policy and practice approaches to create high quality education for all learners.

Future teaching and learning with innovative use of ICT was the focus of discussion during the official opening of the Future Classroom Lab in Brussels this week. This lab has been created by European Schoolnet with its supporting 30 ministries and industry partners to help visualise how conventional classrooms and other learning spaces can be easily reorganised to support changing styles of teaching and learning. The official opening of the lab was performed by Jan De Craemer, Vice Chair of the European Schoolnet Steering Committee. Read more on the Future Classroom Lab website. 

This supplement takes a closer look at several EU projects in the education and training fields. It includes an insight into how senior EACEA staff view their role in relation to project support and how they plan to further streamline this in the future.