Teacher development through language-related innovation in a decentralised educational system

Figures & data

Figure 1. Illustrating the different levels of an educational ecosystem.

Table 1. Participants, educational and language innovation contexts 

Pseudonyms	Educational setting	Context for innovative approaches and activities^1
Anna	ECE	Swedish language immersion
Marja	ECE	Finnish as a second language and Finnish-Swedish bilingual pedagogy
Leena	ECE	Swedish (and German)  language showering in preschool^2
Päivi	ECE	English Language showering
Tuula	ECE	English Language showering
Ritva	ECE	Early introduction of English in preschool
Pirjo	ECE	Early introduction of English in preschool
Sari	ECE	Early introduction of English in preschool
Tarja	ECE	English club
Aino	ECE	Language aware approach with an emphasis on the development of Finnish as second language
Elisa	ECE and BE	German language preschool and grades 1-2
Eeva	ECE and BE	German language preschool and and grades 1-2
Raija	BE grades 1-6	English and Spanish in the lower grades
Helena	BE grades 1-6	Early introduction of English, French and Swedish
Anneli	BE grades 1-6	Early introduction of French
Marjatta	BE grades 1-6	English in the lower grades
Pirkko	BE grades 7-9	English and Swedish language education
Sofia	BE grades 7-9	English and Swedish language education
Annikki	BE grades 7-9	Swedish and Russian language education
Lotta	BE grades 7-9	Swedish language education

1 For a more detailed explanation of innovative approaches and activities in language education see European Commission 2011.Language learning at a pre-primary school level: making it efficient and sustainable. A policy handbook [online] http://ec.europa.eu/languages/policy/language-policy/documents/early-language-learning-handbook_en.pdf

2 Preschool is one year of compulsory education for six year olds before entering the basic comprehensive school system

Figure 2. The field interview thematic map.

Table 2. An extract from the primary-cycle coding stage with colour codes indicating which level of the educational level the teacher participants were referring to and participant codes to support member check of the codes

Includes/ provides	Requires	Strengthened by	Weakened by
Materials	a degree of creativity and organizational skill to build connections between children, the new language and practical possibilities	easy to use (VAKA 1) contribute to children’s language development (VAKA 1) align with teacher beliefs (VAKA 1) (YLÄK 4) children enthusiastic (VAKA 1) systematic organizing of materials as community activity (ALAK 2) investing time (ALAK 2) being able to integrate with other language –focused activities (YLÄK 4) being able to use tools with different groups (YLÄK 4)	not connecting to a particular theme (VAKA 1) having to update iPad (VAKA 9) not fitting the rhythm of the community (VAKA 9) having to pay for materials (ALAK 1a and b) having no particular source to turn to (ALAK1a and b) unequal provision of materials regarding different languages (ALAK 2) some activities can only be used every-so-often (YLÄK 4)