What are the most in-demand learning materials for teachers in Finland?

We're launching a series of blog posts focusing on the most in-demand learning materials for teachers right now. We're basing our analysis on the data from our community platform where over 200,000 teachers share their teaching materials with each other.

The first article focuses on the most downloaded teaching materials by Finnish teachers in the past six months on the Freeed platform. In the following articles, we look into Spain and Italy and compare the differences between the three countries.

Festive Fun and Fundamental Skills

The most popular teaching materials downloaded by Finnish teachers include teaching the Finnish language, mathematics, music, drama, arts, gym, and seasonal celebrations. Interestingly, six exercises in the Finnish list are Christmas-themed, highlighting the importance of taking seasonal celebrations into consideration while teaching. Additionally, two social-emotional learning materials are included, representing the growing emphasis on this topic in Finland.

Another noteworthy observation is the prevalence of reading comprehension materials in the Finnish list. 12 out of the 20 materials focus on learning to read and improving reading comprehension skills. This highlights the importance placed on literacy education in Finland.

In summary, Finnish teachers prioritize teaching the Finnish language, mathematics, and various forms of creative expression such as music, drama, and arts. The inclusion of seasonal celebrations and social-emotional learning materials also indicates the importance of creating a holistic learning environment. The prevalence of reading comprehension materials in the list reflects the emphasis on literacy education in Finland.

Teachers Favor Reading Exercises to Improve Fundamental Literacy Skills

Reading is a fundamental skill that affects learners' performance in every subject, and it greatly affects their overall success in school. Therefore, teachers understand the importance of building strong reading skills in their students.

In every subject, there are opportunities to incorporate reading exercises that not only build understanding of the subject matter expertise but also improve reading fluency. For example, the most popular music exercise on Freeed incorporates a reading exercise that is enhancing reading fluency.

By keeping the importance of reading fluency in mind, learning material developers can better support teachers in their efforts to build fundamental literacy skills in their students. By incorporating reading exercises in their learning materials, developers can provide teachers with a valuable tool to help students improve their reading fluency while also reinforcing the concepts they are learning in every subject.