No Teacher Is an Island: Learning Through Interschool Exchange

Learning Beyond Our Own Classroom

In our work with different schools, we often see children in various learning environments. Similar age groups, yet completely different dynamics visible in subtle moments: how learners take initiative, ask questions, or welcome newcomers.

Knowing that behind every classroom is a set of choices, values, and practices, it got me thinking:

What can teachers in different schools learn from each other?

What could emerge if educators from different contexts, public and private, structured and flexible, had the space to exchange experiences, questions, and approaches? Will collective reflection offers a way to find fresh inspiration amid routines and pressure?

When Teaching Feels Isolated

Teaching is essentially a relational work, but those of us who have been in it know how surprisingly solitary it can feel. Standing in the staff room, choosing not to talk about the issue just to get a break, only to find the silence somehow more stressful than the conversation. Professional learning happens within the school or webinars don’t necessarily create space to connect to teachers’ day-to-day experience.

Without a broader professional support network, teachers tend to remain bound by their own context, unaware of the rich practices unfolding beyond their school walls.

How Interschool Exchange Can Look

Interschool exchange is about learning with one another, not from webinars, but through shared experience and conversations.

It should be intentionally designed to create dialogue across contexts, observation and reflection and collaborative problem‑solving. There could be group conversations around a shared theme, reflective sessions after watching each other’s practices, or joint exploration of burning questions.

Ideally, interschool exchange expands what could be possible by learning from real practice in diverse environments, and gently restores a shared recognition: We are not alone. Teaching was never meant to be.

Finland: Current Situation

In Finland, collaboration and networking have been part of educational culture, but not without complexity (Tiippana et al., 2024). Teachers are connected to networks in different ways, and these networks can create opportunities for professional learning when they are well supported.

Shared networks that exist today include the UNESCO Baltic Sea Project School Network (2024–2026). Schools participating in this regional initiative come together around shared themes like environmental awareness and cultural understanding. Other networks such as “Kaksari” and “Loisto” organize occasional webinars and topical events that connect teachers across the municipality. 

These are examples of networks that provide structure beyond individual classrooms, but do they automatically translate into sustainable professional learning?

Challenge: Developing Network Competencies

Research shows that collaboration and networking don’t happen just by showing up. They require specific competencies (Epstein, 2019; Lavonen & Korhonen, 2017), including:

• Multi‑professional collaboration. Being able to work with peers, external partners, and educators from different backgrounds. It can be difficult for teachers, the supposed “know-in-all” in the room, to sit at a table and be humbled by their peers.

• Navigating institutional cultures. Understanding that each school’s way of organising learning, relationships, and rhythms is rooted in its own culture.

• Learning with peers. Being curious, reflecting critically, and co‑constructing meaning together. One cannot really learn by showing up to a seminar with a closed mind.

These competencies help teachers shift from being solo practitioners to networked professionals, capable of growing through exchange, not merely with colleagues you see during your coffee break. In practice, this takes both a shift in mindset and the conditions to support it: openness to not having all the answers, and the time and space to engage beyond immediate classroom demands.

Why This Matters Today

Education today is multifaceted: diverse learners, changing expectations, and complex social realities call for adaptable, creative and compassionate educators. Could interschool exchange offer a way for educators to break out of routine, question assumptions, and refresh their practice?

When teachers learn with one another, students benefit. Children may never see the exchange happening themselves, but they feel the result: teachers who feel more supported, curious, and connected.

Interschool exchange cannot be a one‑off event. It should be the foundation for a professional community, of people with a curious mind, an open heart and a drive to always grow for the benefit of every learner.

Reference

Epstein, J. (2019). School, family and community partnerships: Preparing educators and improvingschools. Corwin Press.

Lavonen, J., & Korhonen, T. (2017). Towards twenty-first century education: Success factors,challenges, and the renewal of Finnish education. In S. Choo, D. Sawch, A. Villanueva, & R.Vinz (Eds.), Educating for the 21st century: Perspectives, policies and practices from around the world (pp. 243–264). Springer Singapore.

Tiippana, N., Korhonen, T., & Hakkarainen, K. (2024). Teachers’ external networking: Expanding pedagogical practices in Finland. Teacher Educator, 59(4), 480–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2024.2341379