Bilingual education development project brings concrete results to the practical level

During the two-year development project, pedagogical models were created for bilingual education in Tampere, which support the planning, implementation and evaluation of bilingual education and teaching from early childhood education and care to basic education.

The new models clarify the objectives of bilingual education and teaching at different levels of education and strengthen cooperation structures within the city.

– The aim is to encourage guardians and children to get to know different languages and to provide pedagogical approaches to learning them, says Pia Mikkola, Regional Director of Early Childhood Education and Care in the City of Tampere.

The activities have also attracted interest nationally and have been published in electronic form in the Finnish National Agency for Education's library of open learning materials.

– Language skills give children different perspectives and opportunities for the future. Learning a new language also facilitates the learning of other languages in the future, and positive experiences and language skills enrich a child's view of the world.

The models include information on early language learning, language development, language awareness and practices that can be used by any early childhood education and care or pre-school group.

Staff from the bilingual groups of the Amuri, Kissanmaa and Maijalanpuisto early childhood education and care centres and the bilingual pre-primary education centres Wivi Lönn, Tammela and FISTA participated in the development work. As a result of the significant work done by the teachers at the workshop days, the operating models and the development model are also available to guardians on the tampere.fi website.

The bilingual early childhood education groups for the autumn can already be visited and applied for during the spring via eVaka.