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The new principal trio is ready for the school year: "We cooperate a lot and support each other"

9.8.2024 2024 Working in a rickshaw Basic education

The new principals of Riihimäki middle schools Anita Rintala, Olli Selin and Hanna Pylvänäinen happily pose in a row.
The new principals of Riihimäki middle schools Anita Rintala (left), Olli Selin and Hanna Pylvänäinen Photo: Jenniina Nummela

At work in Riksu, there is a story series in which the employees of the city of Riihimäki talk about their work.

All three middle schools in Riihimäki have a new principal: Hanna Pylvänäinen in Harjunrintine school, Olli Selin in Kara school and Anita Rintala in Pohjolanrintine.

The cooperation has already started and a regular rex meeting every two weeks has been marked on the calendars. The goal of the trio of principals is to exchange experiences and jointly steer the middle school in the same direction.

According to the new principals, adolescence and growing up are more difficult now than a generation ago. There is a wide range of information and understanding of things, and you should find your own perspective on them. With social media, things are talked about more, and young people also know how to express their difficult feelings. They get peer support from social media, but there is also pressure from there.

"The most important thing in the principal's job is to organize the framework for the students to learn the things that are in the curriculum. This includes things from preparing reading schedules to matters related to student care and property care," state all three principals.

Support for class supervisors

Hanna Pylvänäinen summarizes the principal's most important task as supporting the work of teachers. When they are able to do their best, students have the opportunity to learn.

"I think it is important to support the work of the class supervisor, because it contributes to the students' well-being and learning. Each class has a weekly class supervisor. I'm trying to increase the class supervisor's hours or quarters so that teachers have more time to meet the students," says Pylvänäinen.

Pylvänäinen has worked as a principal in Kristiinankaupunki for four years. In addition, he has a long experience of working as a class teacher, craft teacher and vice-principal in Helsinki.

"High school is an energetic environment, and watching young people grow and develop is great. I don't have lessons, but I hold one hour for each grade level so we can get to know each other."

Pylvänäinen, who lives in Helsinki, is looking forward to getting to know Riihimäki, the people of Riihimäki and the people of his school during the school year. In her spare time, she reads and does crafts. Movement keeps the mind fresh and music keeps the pulse high.

The new middle school principal Hanna Pylvänäinen poses in the picture.
Principal Hanna Pylvänäinen says that she holds one hour for each grade level so that she and the students can get to know each other.

The principal's role seemed natural

Anita Rintalalla was the acting principal of Pohjolanrinne last year, and before that she was acting principal. Rintala became interested in the principal's duties because she likes to organize and plan things.

"I got involved in the school's development tasks first as a vice-principal, so I saw the work of a teacher from a slightly different perspective. For 20 years, I worked as a classroom teacher in Nurmijärvi and Riihimäki at Eteläinen school."

While serving as vice principal, Rintala completed a degree in educational administration, which formally qualifies him for the position of principal. He also studied a 1,5-year course in teaching and training management.

"A good principal is genuine and present, and builds the school community together with others. This is interpersonal work, where there is a lot of discussion," says Rintala.

The principal is ultimately responsible for everything, both the students and the buildings. Sometimes Rintala has even sanded the yard, but a lot of time he is also on the computer handling administrative tasks, such as salaries, procurement of substitutes and communication to parents, teachers and partners.

Pohjolanrinne school principal Anita Rintala is smiling in the picture.
"Every time I talk with our young people, I feel confident about the future. They are so empathetic and thoughtful," says Pohjolanrinne's new principal, Anita Rintala.

"I want to maintain the joy of learning and invest in well-being with small actions. One of my goals this school year is to increase positive feedback among members of the school community. We could cheer even more and say thank you out loud," says Rintala.

Well-being issues, for example mental challenges and school absences, are a problem for some young people.

"The school's task is to find solutions to them. During my school days, the headmaster was strongly looked up to. I'm not a deterrent, but I meet the young person, let the feelings subside a little and we sit down to talk."

Rintala praises young people as energetic and brave. They are ready to enter the world and grow into aware, world-improving adults.

Last year, Rintala taught health information. Now he works as a concurrent or resource teacher, which means that he can go as another teacher in, for example, a Swedish class.

Rintala lives with her family in Riihimäki and often goes for a walk in the forest after work. Cooking, gardening and reading are her favorite hobbies.

Another school to take over

The new principal of Kara school, Olli Selin, previously worked for 14 years as the principal of Orimattila co-educational school. However, she still wanted new challenges, because Selini is interested in wholes, big solutions and the development of schools and teaching.

"Both Riihimäki and Kara's school are in good shape, as are the city's digital side and robotics. It's nice to start developing the school, the work community and yourself," says Selin.

Selin reflects that before the school was a strongly conservative and conservative maintainer of a uniform culture, which was the first to introduce new things. Now the change in society can be very fast, and it can take time for the school to react to it in the right way.

"I'm interested in which direction the school is taking and what kind of megatrends are moving in society at the same time. The unified culture has kind of disappeared, and it is full of small subcultures. Awareness and understanding of difference and diversity has increased. The school can do a lot for the rational use of information technology."

Kara school principal Olli Selin.
"Young people are pretty much the same as before. However, Some has brought its own addition. Sometimes we goof around in a group, but by listening calmly and talking, things get done," says Olli Selin, the new principal of Kara's school.

Selin states that one of the big problems with schoolwork is the lack of persistence and patience. Getting to the end result always requires work, effort and time.

Selin is a history and social studies teacher and this year she teaches history to two classes. He has not taught for four years before this, but he considers teaching a good way to get to know the school and the students.

Selin and his family live in Hollola. In his spare time, he likes to read about history, follow society and is a news junkie. In the winter, he skis in Salpauselä and in the summer he sails and cabins in Päijänte. The phenomena of the starry sky are recorded with a camera.

Text: Reija Ypyä
Photos: Jenniina Nummela