1P00CZ91: Laws and amendments (Blog-1)

Law and Amendment

Every educational institution is subject to a set of rules and regulations that must be followed in order to carry out its organizational functions. The laws are implemented by the appropriate authorities, such as the government, the municipality, the university, and the vocational school. An amendment is a term used to describe the process through which administrative bodies alter legislation. So I adhere to not only the laws and regulations that have been established in my teaching profession, but also to numerous developments that have occurred in the field of education.

There are, however, a number of restrictions and regulations to follow. One of the most important elements is confidentiality legislation, which protects information and data pertaining to students, instructors, and institutions, such as those protected by the nondiscrimination act, the equality act, the child welfare act, and the rights of students. The law is necessary since it helps to maintain the image and reputation of the organization. In Finland, there are two central bodies: the Ministry of education and culture, which is responsible for educational policy and law, and the Finnish National Board of education, which is responsible for curriculum creation, educational development, and certification standards.

Confidentiality Law in Finland ("Salassapitolaki") Teaching Privacy and Data Security

The Teachers Secrecy Act in Finland is a law on confidentiality that requires the teacher to secure the data of the students with privacy and secrecy. This covers securing digital records, storing physical files securely, and sharing information only on a need-to-know basis. This means teachers are to handle personal information, such as grades and health records, very carefully.

Making Privacy a Reality

This means that privacy and personal information about the students cannot be shared by the teacher to others without explicit permission unless it falls within the legal conditions where such matters can be taken up as a safeguard measure for the student's life. This is done through the use of passwords, secure communication software that uses encryption, and networks that ensure privacy issues are kept confidential. Hard copy data and any documents need to have a hard lock and key securing. All students discussions that involve, or concern should always happen behind closed doors.

Archiving Documents

The length of time that documents need to be archived can vary. The usual thing is for student records to be retained for some time, usually about five years after the student has left the institution. It may consist of grade records, attendance records, and discipline records. If particular education records may be too sensitive or need long-term referral, the document must be held longer.

Reveal Information

Confidentiality requires much care for teachers when handling information. Generally, teachers never divulge any information on the students to the spouse or another teacher unless with proper consent. The teacher is only allowed to share information with the other workers if and only if that particular information they want to share will have a bearing on the education and the welfare of the said student. Where the amount of information to disclose is not clear, then a student has a right to their information. Students must be brought to terms with their records and the context information.

Principles of Good Administration

As a teacher, such sound administration principles would include principles of transparency, accountability, impartiality, efficiency, and lawfulness. Specifically, in practice, a teacher shall have engaged the principles herein by actively meeting parents through frequent parent-teacher meetings that communicate and involve the parents in their child's education. Consequently, a concise grading policy would ensure that the assessment criteria have been succinctly stated, and consistently followed and applied. Lastly, professional training would imply receiving additional training periodically to keep abreast of best practices and in compliance with the law.

Guarantees of safety in educational institutions

A safe environment for learning can be assured by the several legal and practical measures associated with it. Schools are required to comply with safety-related guidelines, which also cover areas like fire codes, building and emergency standards, among others. In order to ensure healthy surroundings, schools need to make sure that students receive proper sanitation treatment, have access to safe drinking water, and are not bullied or harassed. Schools should respect data protection legislation by keeping personal data in a secure way so that unauthorized personnel do not have access to it. The administrative measures involve safety drills, which have to be frequent, including fire and lockdown drills. The anti-bullying program is also instituted for the better good of nurturing a good culture in schools and to curb any forms of bullying at whatever level. Surveillance and monitoring to prevent unauthorized access from happening, there should be surveillance cameras placed strategically.

Copyright and ownership

Copyright is a form of intellectual property. It grants exclusive rights to the creator of an original work for its use and distribution (Source: https://libguides.hanken.fi/copyright). Teachers need to understand copyright laws to ensure that they are not infringing on the rights of content creators when using materials in their classrooms. To avoid legal issues, teachers must verify that any resources they use are either in the public domain, covered under a Creative Commons license, or properly licensed for educational use. Information on copyright laws can be obtained from reliable sources like government websites, educational institutions, and organizations like the U.S. Copyright Office. As for ownership of teaching materials, it typically depends on the policies of the educational institution and any agreements made with the teacher. In many cases, if a teacher creates material as part of their employment, the institution may claim ownership, though this can vary based on contracts and local laws.

The United States copyright law is outlined in Chapters 1 through 8 and 10 through 12 of Title 17 of the United States Code. The foundational framework for the current copyright law was established by the Copyright Act of 1976, which was enacted on October 19, 1976, as Public Law No. 94-553, 90 Stat. 2541. This Act represented a comprehensive overhaul of the copyright laws in Title 17. Below, in chronological order, are the Copyright Act of 1976 and subsequent amendments to Title 17 (Source: https://www.copyright.gov/title17/).

Duration of Copyright (Finnish Copyright Act)

According to the Finnish Copyright Act, the duration of copyright extends for the author’s lifetime plus 70 years after their death. The author can transfer some of their economic rights, such as to a publisher, allowing them to manage the copyright for its duration. However, unlike economic rights, moral rights are generally non-transferable, even when financial rights are ceded. Additionally, producers of audio and video recordings have related or neighboring rights, which are distinct from those of the work's original author. These rights last for 50 years from the date of recording and 50 years after its release. Similarly, the related rights for a photograph are valid for 50 years from the date it was taken. (Source: https://libguides.hanken.fi/copyright).

Reflection on group works and lecturing session:-

In our group, we went through the concept of law, amendments to the law, and secrecy laws in great detail. We followed cooperative learning in the group activities while taking constructivism into consideration. In accordance with the rotation of work, one of the members was tasked with the obligation of preparing the slides, since it was necessary to preserve equal opportunities via the rotation of action. We did, however, all conduct our own research to gather the necessary facts. Finally, we created the slides and scheduled meetings, despite the fact that not all of us were able to attend. Group 5 was confronted with a wide-ranging challenge. Occasionally, the responsible individual created the slides according to their own beliefs, which has an impact on all members of the teaching team throughout the lecture session. Even if we were able to address the problem, it would not have been feasible without direct engagement or further meetings during the lecture session. This is why, in the majority of situations, I was required to read the whole content on the slides.

Due to the fact that I did not create the slides, my teaching excellence was severely hampered. In the slides, for example, there was a lot of material to read. In teaching, on the other hand, I conducted an analytical exam before discussing the material. The goal was to determine the level of knowledge of the participants. In addition, I engage the kids in a free-wheeling conversation. However, because it was group work and I had certain constraints in terms of presentation design, I might be able to perform greater activation of the learners. Due to the fact that they employed the socrative.com online application to conduct the real-time diagnosis exam, the members of group two have maintained all sorts of pedagogic criteria. I learnt something new and appreciated their concept. Moreover, both professors were composed, cooperative, and communicative in their interactions with students. They educated us about different forms of safety, bullying, and how to deal with it, such as using KiVa. It was a pleasure to learn from them, and their instruction was excellent. However, taking into consideration a deep-learning technique that is related to long-term memory, they may add some questions at the conclusion of the session about their comprehensive elucidation.

Furthermore, the issue of administration piqued the interest of the fourth group. The instructor did an outstanding job of outlining the basics of school administration in a professional manner. Finally, the teacher devised a game that proved to be an excellent technique of stimulating conversation. For example, she inquired as to how to conduct proper administration while taking into consideration various elements of administration such as democracy, justice, legality, nondiscrimination, clearly defined duties and responsibilities, student-centered, flexibility, adaptability, evaluation by results, impartiality, cooperative, prudence, and scientific methods of investigation. I thoroughly loved and learnt from the process, which I want to use in my classroom in the future.

Finally, my conclusion is that groups two and four put in more effort into their teaching and substance than the other two groups did. It was their teaching approaches that were appropriate and ideal in the classroom setting. In terms of pedagogy, group two emphasized the importance of outstanding activation pedagogy, whereas group four emphasized the importance of digital pedagogy. However, our group had certain restrictions as compared to other groups because of the topic issue, despite the fact that we participated in some debate. After all is said and done, I am glad to have learned about numerous safety and legal issues as well as school management. Throughout the meeting, I gained a better understanding of digital pedagogy and game-based conversation.

References:

• Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman. (n.d.). Guide to Data Protection. Retrieved from tietosuoja.fi

• Finnish National Agency for Education. (2023). Principles of Good Administration in Education. Retrieved from oph.fi

• Pupil and student welfare.Ministry of Education and Culture. Retrived from https://okm.fi/en/pupil-and-student-welfare