Practical experience in teaching

“You’ve got to do this pretty much.” (Colleague’s comment on the lecture)

I have wide-ranging and long-lasting practical academic teaching experience.

I began to teach already at the end of the 1980s as a substitute teacher in the Finnish language and teacher of the drama group in the Tapiola secondary and upper secondary school. Academic teaching I started at the University of Helsinki immediately after my graduation (1995) with the course: Genealogy of Politics (1995, 1996). Since then I have worked continuously in the University of Helsinki as Fee-paid Teacher and from the year 2013 as Adjunct Professor (Title of Docent), (2013-2016). I have also worked as a full-time Assistant Professor in Politics (2004-2006) and as University Teacher in World Politics (2008 – 2009) in the University of Helsinki and as a University Teacher of Politics in the University of Jyväskylä (2017-2018).

I have taught politics, world politics and administration in the Department of Political and Economic Studies in The Faculty of Social Sciences at University of Helsinki and Politics in the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences in the University of Jyväskylä.

I have also been a guest lecturer in the other departments of University of Helsinki (Sociology, Social Policy, Law, Religious Studies) as in the several departments of other universities and colleges (University of Genoa, University of Turku, Aalto University, University of Arts Helsinki). I have also taught in adult education institutions (Finnish Adult Education Centre of the City of Helsinki, Open University, Critical Academy), politics, philosophy, art and cultural theories.

I have taught in all levels of academic education: basic courses, advanced courses and post-graduate and doctoral studies.  The teaching has taken place in both face-to-face interactive small groups, as also large mass lectures. I have taught in personal and digital environments, managed net-courses, as also practised different forms of digital and e-learning.

Active teaching languages have been Finnish and English and passive Swedish.

I have organized dozen lecture courses, given over thirty individual lectures, practised seminar teaching and worked as a course coordinator and faculty examiner.

I had been supervisor and evaluator in bachelor (36) and master thesis (15) using various methodologies (both qualitative and quantitative) and handling multiple subject matters in both political studies, administration studies and world politics. I am supervising three doctoral dissertations.

As a supervisor, I emphasize the importance of the research question seeing that the choice of methodology and material should always be subordinated to the actual research question. People tend to stick to some methodology or research material without working out first what is their actual research question. For example, the qualitative method does not answer to the quantified question as the quantified methodology does not answer to the qualified question. Indeed, my quite extensive knowledge of theories and methodology of social sciences has been particularly useful where there has been a demand to supervise thesis done in various subject matters and using very different methodologies. When working as a full-time teacher, I have also participated in the design and development of faculty teaching, design of study units and forms as also guiding and managing students personal study plans.

Teaching: Experience