What's Happening in Finland
The TGfU approach has attracted quite sparse research and practical interest in Finnish educational and sport settings. Some of the potential reasons for this:

  • The lack of knowledge and teaching materials on TGfU in Finnish language
  • Limited structural opportunities, time and support for physical education teacher’s in-service training.
  • A lack of cooperation between university representatives and professionals who work directly with the teaching and training of sports in schools and sport clubs
The bulletins above present a general overview of the present situation in Finland. Although a lack of initiatives in the physical education and sport context, some initiatives relating to game-based learning in classroom settings has been introduced recently.

For example:
The use of modern game-based learning and gamification in teaching the skills of future through technology: https://www.polarpartners.fi/how-to-use-games-in-the-classroom/
The Fun Learning approach that promotes learning through play and exploration by combining best practices and advances in early education:  https://funacademy.fi/
Projects aiming to facilitate playful learning: https://plchelsinki.fi/research-development/projects/
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The Finnish national core curriculum for basic education (Finnish National Board of Education, 2016) provides guidelines for teaching of physical education in schools. The curriculum provides teachers a high degree of autonomy, which allows them flexibility in choosing the content and structure for physical education classes. Furthermore, the present curriculum also highlights the importance of using student-centred teaching strategies to enhance student accountability.  From these perspectives, the national core curriculum offers a sturdy foundation for increasing the role of TGfU and other game-based approaches in school settings. As Finnish representative of the IAB, I hope to be able to increase knowledge and produce teaching materials on TGfU in Finnish language, and function as a link between universities and schools to intensify the cooperation between these two parties. 

Finland

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