Practical Teacher Training
A crucial part of the studies for professionall teacher education students is teaching practice.
Information about the practical teacher training
Work of Professional Teacher and Practical Teacher Training in an Educational Institution 10 cr
The aim of the course is to learn to plan and implement teaching, as well as to assess students’ competence and its development. Additionally, your goal is to familiarize yourself with the work of a professional teacher and to operate in vocational education environments.
You can complete the practical teacher training in a vocational education organization, such as a vocational school, adult education center, or university of applied sciences. Teaching should primarily be directed towards education leading to a degree or qualification. See the suitable educational institutions and programs for the practical teacher training at the link below.
Your teaching practice begins with familiarizing yourself with vocational education, its regulations, and funding sources. In addition, during the autumn semester, you will become acquainted with the work and practices of a teacher at the educational institution. During this familiarization period, you will observe and monitor the work of a teacher at the agreed-upon educational institution.
During the practical teacher training, you will plan and implement a teaching module for a vocational student group, the scope of which is usually about three study credits or competence points. The actual practical teacher training is mainly scheduled for the spring semester, during which you will develop your teaching and guidance skills based on the feedback you receive. For the practical teacher training, you will prepare a plan that defines the content and implementation method of the teaching.
The duration of the practical teacher training is determined by the teaching module and is agreed upon with you individually. It is important to reserve enough time for the practical teacher training so that you have the opportunity to reflect and develop between teaching sessions. The practical teacher training may also include distance guidance, competence assessment in demonstrations, collaboration with the world of work, and guidance of workplace learning or training. For example, the practical teacher training can last 1–3 months and may include:
– 3–8 teaching sessions
– Guidance of students’ distance work
– Evaluation of assignments and giving feedback.
If the training in an educational institution, workplace, or other learning environment essentially require working with minors, HAMK and the training institution must ensure that the student does not have a criminal background defined by the SORA legislation. These sections of the criminal law concern crimes against children, sexual offenses, violent crimes, crimes against liberty, and drug offenses. To check the criminal background, the student must present a criminal record extract.
You can order a criminal record extract free of charge from the website of the Legal Register Centre when the extract is needed for studies. You can find more detailed instructions on Workseed.
Your practical teacher training will be supervised by your tutor teacher and the supervising teacher from the educational institution. At the end of the practical teacher training, a feedback discussion will be held to assess the progress of your practical teacher training and reflect on what has been learned.
The information about the practical teacher training is recorded in Workseed. In Workseed, you will create the scheduling for the observation of teaching and your teacher training plan. At the end of the training, the evaluation will also be recorded in Workseed based on your feedback discussion.
See more information about using Workseed in the instructions below:
The practical teacher training commences during the autumn semester, with students familiarising themselves with the teaching practices at the educational institution. This period also involves familiarising the regulations governing vocational training and funding sources. The student teacher should also observe other teachers’ work at least five times at the training institute, with the duration of these observations varying from a few hours to a full teaching day.
As part of the practical teacher training, students plan and implement a study package worth approximately three study credits or competence points for a vocational student group. This includes teaching sessions, guidance in learning, providing feedback and evaluating student progress within various professional learning settings. Typically the practical teacher training occurs during the spring semester, including providing feedback and student evaluation.
The duration of the practical teacher training is determined by the entity being taught. It may be as short as two weeks, with training sessions conducted multiple days a week, or span over a longer period, such as two months, with sessions held two to three hours per week. Face-to-face teaching hours may vary across educational institutions, and training may also include remote supervision, evaluation of presentations, collaboration with industry partners and supervision of vocational practical training organised at workplaces.
The practical teacher training should take place within vocational training organisations, such as vocational educational institutions, vocational adult education centres or universities of applied sciences. Teaching practice should primarily focus on education leading to a degree or qualification. It is also possible to conduct practical teacher training period abroad. If you are wondering whether some institutions are suitable for practical teacher training, see the attachment regarding the eligibility of different institutions (doc).
A contractual agreement for practical teacher training is established with the educational institution where the training shall take place, which also designates the supervising teacher. A written plan is drafted for the teaching practice. Practical teacher training is supervised by the student’s tutor teacher (from the school of professional teacher education) and a supervising teacher (from the educational institution where the training takes place). A joint review meeting will be held with the supervising teacher at the end of the practical teacher training. After completing the assessment, the supervising teacher can invoice a fee for their supervisory services.
The supervision fee is invoiced from HAMK via electronic invoice service (available only in Finnish) or paper invoice. The invoicing instructions are sent to the supervising teacher by e-mail after the practical teacher training has been completed.
Note, the supervision fee will be removed for students starting their studies in 2025 and thereafter.
Agreement and assessment documentation must be sent electronically to: aokk-opintotoimisto@hamk.fi
Documents for Practical Teacher Training
Information for supervising teachers
The goal of the teaching practice is for the student to develop pedagogical knowledge and skills in a real teaching environment at an educational institution. As the supervising teacher, your role is to guide the teacher student in their skill development and professional growth during the teaching practice.
As a supervising teacher, you approve the training implementation plan and participate in the evaluation or feedback discussion with the student and their tutor teacher at the end of the training.
The teacher student records their teacher training information in Workseed. Your task is to verify your contact information and approve it, as well as approve the training implementation plan created by the student. At the end of the teaching practice, you will also provide an assessment of the completed training.
Workseed is a web application that can be used on a computer, mobile phone, or tablet. At HAMK School of Professional Teacher Education, it is used as a tool for managing, implementing, and assessing teacher training.
Inviting the Supervising Teacher to Workseed
The student invites their supervising teacher to Workseed. For this, the student needs the following information from the supervising teacher:
- Name
- Email address
- Mobile phone number
Logging in to Workseed as a Supervising Teacher
After the student has entered the details into Workseed, the supervising teacher will receive an email containing a login link and a verification code. The verification code is sent separately, either via text message or email. The verification code ensures that access to Workseed cannot be gained with the login link alone.
The login link and verification code are student-specific. If a supervising teacher has several students, there will be multiple login links and codes.
The email containing the login link includes both an “Open here” (or Avaa tästä if in Finnish) button and a long login URL. Both lead to the same page. After selecting one of these, you will be asked for the verification code. The code can be requested from the same view. Once the code has arrived, it should be entered in the designated field, after which you click Confirm (or Vahvista if in Finnish).
The verification code is valid for 5 minutes. If the code expires, a new one can always be requested.
Working in Workseed
In Workseed, the supervising teacher can see the content produced by the student (for example, the practical teacher training plan). All content can be commented on, and the student as well as their tutor teacher at HAMK School of Professional Teacher Education can respond to comments and add their own.
Notifications about comments and activities are sent to email the following morning.