Reader’s opinion|Pupils ultimately suffer from poorly prepared acquisitions.
Helsingin Sanomat news (6.9.) About the city of Helsinki’s unsuccessful procurement of equipment in the field of education and training. It is about the monitors ordered for the school, the purchase of which had to be interrupted when the ordered devices did not meet the conditions set for them. Throughout the beginning of autumn, the teachers have been teaching without any kind of visual support – and are still doing so.
Visually in the average class, at least half of the students need support, and its absence means a decrease in the quality of teaching, restlessness and a burden on students and teachers. In addition, the removal of physical learning materials has directed teachers to rely on the versatile use of digital materials, which is not possible now.
We are in the same situation at our school. In all classes, it is not possible to visualize the teaching when the video projectors that were previously in use have stopped working. In the very cramped spaces of our school, the teachers have found the video projector-document camera combination to be a functional teaching tool. This is now being abandoned and the video projectors will be replaced by the same screens, which, according to Helsingin Sanomat’s story, there is no information about the delivery schedule. Unlike video projectors, screens standing on large stands do not serve the needs of teaching in our school premises. At no point have the teachers at our school been asked what kind of technology we would like to use for teaching.
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Do the employees who decide on equipment purchases have pedagogical expertise?
This is, in our opinion, the biggest drawback in the technology procurement of schools in the city of Helsinki. How can it be possible that the users of the devices are not listened to in the procurement of equipment? The employees of the learning technology unit of the field of education and training decide on what kind of equipment is used to teach in schools. Where is the pedagogical expertise that recognizes students’ needs? Each school has its own needs in terms of presentation technology, and these needs vary considerably, for example, in terms of facilities and student material.
It is also ecologically unsustainable to replace functioning devices with new ones without a good reason. A non-functioning video projector can often be repaired by changing the lamp, the price of which ranges from hundreds of thousands.
Equipment procurement is all about big money and the implementation of teaching. The teaching staff should always be listened to before purchasing decisions. Pupils ultimately suffer from poorly prepared acquisitions.
We hope transparency in the field of education and training, both in project decisions and in other activities related to teaching. It is really worrying if objective and relevant criticism is perceived as career-threatening and teachers do not dare to give it in their own name.
Kaisa Eskola
Katri Valtojärvi
classroom teachers
On behalf of the teaching staff of Latokartano elementary school
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