Escaping the subject-based class: A Finnish case study of developing transversal competencies in a transdisciplinary course

Abstract

In 2014, the Finnish National Board of Education launched a new core curriculum with the aim of meeting the skills and competence requirements of the 21st century. The purpose of this case study was to find out what transversal competencies Finnish eighth graders developed and how they experienced studying in a problem-based transdisciplinary course, which was arranged for the transitional stage between the former and the new curriculum. The qualitative data consisted of questionnaires and interviews. The analysis followed the methods of qualitative content analysis. When asked about their learning, the students commented on not having learnt much, referring to the discipline-based knowledge. Instead, they had learnt skills through teamwork, problem solving, and expression of their views and opinions, an aspect that they did not clearly connect with the things to be learnt at school. Many students felt that they acquired the competencies that they would need later in their lives. The students’ teamwork had a crucial impact on their learning experience. The timeframe for the integrative approach needs careful consideration; the learning process in this course was perceived as being successful because it was long enough. Our study highlights that focusing on students’ views is critical when reforming curriculum.

Keywords:

• Transdisciplinary teaching
• integrated curriculum
• transversal competences
• curriculum reform

Acknowledgments

We thank the enthusiastic biology and geography teacher for inviting us to follow his innovative course and for sharing his ideas with us. We also thank the open-minded eighth graders who expressed their views and experiences in the interviews and in the questionnaires.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Lasse Eronen works as a senior researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education. He has worked as a mathematics and science teacher for 15 years and as a mathematics teacher educator since 2000. His current research interests concern the student-centered learning environments in mathematics education and integrative approaches to teaching and learning.

Sirpa Kokko works as a university lecturer at the University of Helsinki (UH), Department of Education. She has a long experience of Finnish craft education at different levels of education; comprehensive school in the town of Joensuu (10 years), class teacher education at the University of Eastern Finland (14 years), and craft teacher education at UH since 2013. In addition to earlier work experience in Africa, she has been involved in teacher and research cooperation with several European universities. After finishing her PhD thesis in 2007 (about gendered processes of upbringing and education related to crafts), she has conducted research on current developments of craft culture and craft education and published in several international refereed journals. Her recent research interests concern integrative approaches to teaching and learning, and the cultural heritage of crafts. She was a project coordinator and manager of an international Erasmus + project ‘Handmade Wellbeing’(2015–2017) and a visiting scholar at James Madison University, USA in the autumn 2018.

Kari Sormunen is a university lecturer at the University of Eastern Finland, School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education. He holds a licentiate in physics and PhD in science education. He has worked as a science teacher for three years and a science teacher educator since 1992. He has participated in numerous EU projects on teacher education in 2001–2016 and he has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, Graduate School of Education in the autumn 2016. His current research interests concern science teacher education and diverse learners in science education.