Hermannin koulu is a located in the city centre of Salo. They have about 460 pupils and approximately 40 teachers and 4 assisting personnel. Most of the pupils come from the surrounding rural areas. About 20-30 per cent of pupils come from the city area.
The school has a long traditions in international relations. During the past few year they had a new principal and many new teachers interested in internationalizing and teachers are working in teams in order to develop the school system in their own school. Each third of their students study in CLIL-classes partly in English. We have also a class for recently arrived immigrants, where they are taught Finnish and they are also integrated to other classes and school subjects as soon as possible, individually.
They also think that the 100-year-old Finland is more and more an international country.
In Finland, there is now a new curricula. They find it important to discuss it with foreign teachers; disseminate their new ideas and learn from the others. Since learning is tied to the student’s previous knowledge and learning strategies, it is always individual. For this reason, versatile learning environments, teaching methods and channels must be used in teaching.
They are going to lead the education towards bigger study entities and we will have thematic weeks and here we find an international aspect very important and interesting. The school also takes part in „Liikkuva koulu” -project (Let’s get active). Also, they are going to move the studies not only out of the school building but also increase cooperation between students and associations/companies, working life in general. Hermannin koulu is also involved in Majakka (Light house) – network which is a network guided by Finnish National Board of Education. Its aim is to develop and share nationally new ideas and functions in school curriculum.
The website of the school is available here.
