6th session - Laws and amendments. Copyright©️ and ownership

 

Time for laws and amendments related to higher education.The common ground for all the groups was this time trying to identify the laws, amendments and legal issues that affect vocational teachers. One key aspect during this session was how and where to find legal information, especially from Finnish sources. Having this part clear for all the students we went independently to more specific areas going from confidentiality law and principles of good administration to safety and copyright laws. 

Pre-task for all the groups: Where can you find the current laws and amendments concerning vocational/university education and working as a teacher? Are there any English versions available?

The following websites are capital in terms of finding information on current laws and amendments affecting higher education:

www.finlex.fi (database of legislative and judicial information in Finland)

www.oph.fi (Finnish National Agency for Education)

www.minedu.fi (Finnish Ministry of Education)

www.oaj.fi  (The Trade Union of Education in Finland)

OUR PLANNING AND PRESENTATION:

The best piece of work in our team in terms of clarity, good design and concision so far. Or at least, that was my impression! It is true that the topic was very concrete and that helped a lot in terms of research and at the time of our presentation. Good job during of information gathering process from every member of the group that was able to participate. Straight to the point and without digressions. Good work TEAM PINK!

Using such a clear material made easier to explain the audience about the given concepts without falling into abstract explanations and the subsequent uncertainty of not knowing if the public are getting the learning objectives. But of course, there is always that degree of nervousness at the time of presenting (hopefully mitigated by the experience). 

+ conclusion on our presentation:

We concluded that although definitions on this topic were clear and the legal rights were in general well defined, there are lots of grey areas regarding copyright and ownership. The problems we identified had to do with copyright in not so common environments: slideshow presentations, teacher copyright when linked to a professional contract, research carried out in a company, etc. All these concerns served as trigger for very interesting discussions during the presentation and served to leave clear that beyond any possible hint of doubt in terms of ownership, the original creator of a work is the legitimate owner of it.

 

Source : pngegg.com 

 "If not us, who?

If not now, when?"

– John Fitzgerald Kennedy(*)

(*)This quote by JFK has nothing to do with laws and amendments but we used it in our Mentimeter©️ during our presentation 😜

ORANGE TEAM:

What are the principles of good administration and how are they evident in the everyday work of a teacher? 

It seems after this presentation that the principles of good administration are closely link to the Finnish Constitution and to the Administrative Procedure Act of Finland:

Based on these sections of the Administrative Procedure Act of Finland we easily come to the conclusion that to properly perform our task as teachers we should be able to easily apply these principles:

• EQUALITY (treating everyone equally)
• ACCESS  TO SERVICES (promoting easy accessibility)
• ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS (offering advice and guidance)
• CLEAR LANGUAGE (using a clear, precise and easy to understand language)
• COOPERATION WITH AUTHORITIES (promotion this relationship)
• CONFIDENTIALITY (one of the most important principles)

GREEN TEAM:

How do I ensure the safety of the environment as a teacher? What kind of things are regulated by the law?

First of all, what does the word "safe" mean? Some of the given definitions:

• Protected from any danger or harm
• Not involving much or any risk
• Not likely to lead any physical harm or danger

The idea of safety quickly brings to our minds those classic safety instructions given by institutions in case of a potential emergency situation like fire but the concept goes far beyond that simple idea. In a more extensive way, safety makes also reference to appropriate behaviour, prevention of illegal substances or possession of weapons / dangerous objects. And the ultimate responsible to guarantee and keep high standards in terms of safety is no one but the teacher.

BLUE TEAM:

Confidentiality and confidentiality laws

The following are legal aspects that concern confidentiality:

• Secrecy of documents and the prohibition of disclosing or exploitation
• Storage and handling of these documents or information
• Unrecorded information (i.e. phone calls or conversations) 

Laws affecting and protecting confidentiality:

1. Student Welfare Act 1287/2013 (In Finland)
2. Basic Education Act, Vocational Education Act. (In Finland)
3. General Data Protection Regulatio GDPR (European scope)

 

Sources:

• www.finlex.fi​

• www.oaj.fi​

• www.oph.fi(2020)​​

• Operight project​

• https://operight.fi/artikkeli/omat-tyot/opettajan-itse-tekema-materiaali​

• https://operight.fi/sites/operight.fi/files/operight-tietovihko_2018.pdf ​

• Copyright (EU)​

• https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/running-business/intellectual-property/copyright/index_en.htm ​

• https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu/sites/default/files/newsdocuments/Fact-Sheet-copyright_essentials.pdf​

• Copyright Act (Finland)​

• https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1961/en19610404_20150608.pdf​

• www.minedu.fi

​

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS OF THE WHOLE SESSION:

✅

 - Interesting discussions during the presentations.

-  Interesting topic for self development.

-  Active audience. 

 

❌

– Lack of preliminary basic definitions at the beginning of some presentations.

– Several typos and grammar mistakes in some slides.

– The existing grey areas in this topic.

What is your personal opinion? Leave your comment down here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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