Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat sheds light on the struggles of teachers across Finland, highlighting heavy workloads, burnout, and insufficient support.
One of the top-read stories in Helsingin Sanomat features a school teacher who left the profession after decades of in the profession and is now speaking out about a growing burnout crisis among educators in the country. She warns that so many problems persist in schools that they could threaten the future of Finland itself.
HS noted that a doctoral study published a few years ago found that half of Finnish basic education teachers have considered changing careers.
Teacher Kukka Cedercreutz, who left teaching after nearly 30 years at the head of classrooms, recently published a book, Koulu kuilun reunalla (School on the Brink), drawing on her and other teachers' experiences of classroom struggle and exhaustion.
Cedercreutz recalls classes with numerous students requiring special support, often overwhelming teachers with complex instructions. Almost all teachers reported receiving the same advice from supervisors: lower the bar. But teachers are left alone with that guidance.
"If Finland is to be fixed, we cannot lower the bar," Cedercreutz said.
Cedercreutz notes that a teacher's "first job" is teaching core lessons in the classroom, while their "second job" involves planning, communicating with parents via Wilma, and collaborating with counsellors or therapists. She says teachers are exhausted because resources for the first job are insufficient, while the demands of the second job keep growing.
Interviewees describe classroom teachers as simultaneously serving as educators, nurses, psychologists, cleaners, event organisers, mediators, social services advisors, and therapists. Cedercreutz says teachers are also frustrated by top-down demands imposed on schools.
"Support is being cut, poverty is increasing, and then the school is expected to handle it all. One institution cannot do everything," she says.
The teachers she interviewed said they want more resource teachers to help with kids with diverse needs. These include special education teachers, resource teachers, teaching assistants and school coaches.
APN hears how government cuts to integration funding could worsen Finland's unemployment crisis. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Police are increasingly catching drivers using devices that detect the use of speed radars, the use of which is illegal in Finland, according to newspaper Keskisuomalainen. Last year, authorities reported over 200 offences, up from 190 in 2022 and around 150 in 2021, according to the National Police Board.
Radar detectors warn users about traffic monitoring equipment, including police speed cameras. By law, radar detectors may not be possessed or used in motor vehicles or trailers in areas open to public traffic. Importing, manufacturing for distribution, installing, maintaining, or transferring the devices is also prohibited.
Senior Inspector Timo Vihervaara from the National Police Board says the increase is due more to successful police enforcement than a rise in the number of devices.
Vihervaara says drivers who are prone to speeding often try to avoid fines using radar detectors.
"By doing so, users deliberately engage in speeding that endangers traffic safety." The use of radar detectors is monitored by the police, Customs, and the Border Guard.
With mushrooms popping up abundantly across Finland. Finland's Martha Association, which educates the public in home economics, is encouraging people to grab a basket and head into the forest, reports Maaseudun Tulevaisuus.
Mushrooms are healthy, affordable, and versatile. It's a good idea to bring a basket to collect them in, even on a short walk into the forest, according to the association.
"Identifying and utilising natural resources is also an important part of overall preparedness," notes Tiina Ikonen, leading expert at the Martha Association at Marttaliitto.
Beginners are advised to go mushroom hunting with an experienced forager or join a guided walk, and to only collect mushrooms they can identify as safe to eat.
According to Ikonen, for beginners, learning to identify just one or two new species each year is enough to get started. Easily recognisable mushrooms include the porcini (herkkutatti), chanterelle (kantarelli), and hedge mushrooms (vaaleaorakas).
Equally important is learning to identify the most poisonous species. In Finland, they include dangerous varieties like the destroying angel (Valkokärpässieni), deadly web cap (Suippumyrkkyseitikki), death cap (Kavalakärpässieni), common roll rim (pulkkosieni), and deadly skull cap (myrkkynääpikkä).
Comparing edible mushrooms, Ikonen recommends seeking out the easily recognisable sheep's polypore (lampaankääpä), a mild, versatile mushroom that can be used in steaks, soups, stews, and pies, and can also be dried or frozen.