Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how educators can teach the key competence of a sense of initiative and entrepreneurship (SIE) as a cross-curricular subject in compulsory education. It draws both on the literature relating to entrepreneurial education and on competence-based education to set out five features of entrepreneurial teaching. For illustrative purposes, these five characteristics are explored in a questionnaire put to a small group of teaching staff. Design/methodology/approach – This study employs a qualitative approach, seeking to understand the personal perspectives of participants, and drawing out the complexities of their behaviour, whilst also providing a holistic interpretation of such behaviour. Findings – The literature review identifies five features of entrepreneurial teaching: embedding learning outcomes for a SIE within taught subjects; active entrepreneurial teaching; educating for entrepreneurial attitudes; networking activities; being entrepreneurial as part of lifelong learning. It can be hypothesised that teaching staff teach different aspects of the SIE depending on the subject they teach (vocational or more traditional) and their role (teacher or workshop assistant). Originality/value – Development of the SIE and the five characteristics of entrepreneurial teaching is a first step towards understanding how secondary vocational teachers and workshop assistants understand and teach the SIE as cross-curricular subject. In line with Fayolle and Gailly who called for deeper investigation of the most effective combinations of objectives, content and teaching methods, the paper seeks to establish a relationship between teaching methods, development of entrepreneurial attitudes and assessment.

The premise on which our synthesis is based is the fragmentation of research focused on teaching and learning in mathematics. Our intention is to build an aggregate synthesis from these sources in the context of school education and meaningful learning. Our research targets the links between the different approaches used in teaching, interaction during the teaching-learning process and learning outcomes. Methodologically, our dataset consists of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies and meta-analyses. An EBSCO search produced 69 analysis-eligible publications from 2007-2019. According to our findings, the use of contextual, concrete and social approaches promotes meaningful learning in mathematics, although with certain refinements. The analyses revealed that high-quality learning in mathematics requires guidance during student activities and evaluation with immediate feedback during the teaching-learning process. It also requires the skill among teachers to choose suitable contexts and learning tools, and to focus the students’ communication on what is relevant. Additional significant factors in a meaningful learning process include an affectively favourable classroom atmosphere and teachers who treat their students as individuals. Keywords: mathematics, teaching, learning, synthesis, holistic approach

Socratic irony can be understood independently of the immortal heroics of Plato’s Socrates. We need a systematic account and criticism of it both as a debate-winning strategy of argumentation and teaching method. The Speaker introduces an issue pretending to be at a lower intellectual level than her co-debaters, or Participants. An Audience looks over and evaluates the results. How is it possible that the Speaker like Socrates is, consistently, in the winning position? The situation is ironic because the Participants fight from a losing position but realize it too late. Socratic irony compares with divine irony: divine irony is a subtype of Socratic irony since you lose when you challenge gods. Socratic irony is also, prima facie, a subtype of dramatic irony when the Audience knows more than the Participants on the stage. We must distinguish between the ideal and realistic elements of Socratic Irony. The very idea of Socratic irony looks idealized, or it is an ideal case, which explains the Speaker’s consistently winning position. In real life, the debate must be rigged, or the Dutch Book argument applies to the Participants, if the Speaker is so successful.

Terveysvalmennus on näyttöön perustuva elintapainterventio, joka nostaa potilaan toimijaksi. Se tukee potilaan sitoutumista hoitoon ja myönteisiä elintapamuutoksia pitkäaikaissairauksissa. Lääkärille ja lääkäriksi opiskelevalle terveysvalmennus tarjoaa uusia työkaluja. Se voi parantaa potilas–lääkärisuhdetta ja lisätä terveydenhuollon tasa-arvoa.

As graduating medical students in Finland wish for more skills training and lack proficiency in some of the core procedures expected by a graduating doctor or a GP, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki aims to improve teaching and learning methods based on simulating techniques. The aims of this study were to describe a voluntary skills laboratory course and how students and teachers perceived the experience. We recruited teachers from 11 different specialties to prepare a voluntary skills training session for medical students. The sessions used the faculty skills laboratory equipment and were targeted towards skills that would be needed in clinical rotations and working as substitute for resident doctors at hospitals and as general practitioners in health centers. The sessions were generally open to students from all course levels, and registration was separately carried out for each session. The students could, however, choose to enroll for a voluntary skills course, which required participation in 5 voluntary sessions, 40 hours of independent practice and studying, and a learning diary of the whole experience. We used web-based forms to gather feedback from students and teachers on their perceptions of the sessions. A total of 84/196 (43%) students and 20/21 (95%) teachers were responded. In addition, we analyzed 10 learning diaries from the voluntary course for similarities. Both students and teachers perceived the sessions useful. The average overall rating on a scale of five for a session by the students was 4.27 (IQR: 4-5 n=84). Teachers were motivated in organizing the sessions and felt that the participants were excited, indicating that the sessions were a pleasant experience. The voluntary skills sessions and voluntary skills course were a strong proof of concept and could provide an effective way to promote independent learning in the skills lab.