University of Helsinki: teacher training schools

The teacher training schools of the university of Helsinki; Helsinki Normal Lyceum and Viikki Teacher Training School began the deployment of the OpeFinder application in the summer of 2023 with Sulava’s support. The application streamlines the process of finding substitute teachers — a process that had previously been handled entirely manually.

Substitute acquisition in most Finnish schools is still manual, routine work that education professionals spend a great deal of time on. At Helsinki Normal Lyceum, arranging substitutes has traditionally been the responsibility of either the teacher who became ill or the vice principal. When a teacher reported an illness, it typically triggered a round of calls and messages. Occasionally, the process led to overlaps and cancellations. There was therefore a clear need for at least some level of automation.

“Following staff changes, we faced an unusually high wave of sickness, and the unreasonable amount of time spent on managing substitute arrangements led to the decision that we needed some kind of system,” says Ilkka Ahola Luttila, Vice Principal of Helsinki Normal Lyceum. “Together with our sister school, Viikki Teacher Training School, and Sulava, we began a process that resulted in OpeFinder.”

Microsoft tools to the rescue

Both schools’ teaching staff have long collaborated with Microsoft, which sparked the idea of creating an application connected to the widely used Microsoft Teams. Microsoft brought the schools together with Sulava, and the collaboration began with a needs assessment. The solution was designed to meet specific requirements, and the implementation had to fit within tight budget constraints.

“From the start, the idea was that the new tool must integrate with the services we already use — essentially Teams,” Ahola Luttila says. “The ultimate goal has been to create an automation based system that can easily reach a large number of potential substitutes, and where bookings happen smoothly without overlaps or manual hassle.”

The solution was a PowerApp built inside Teams, initially designed for use by just two people — the school secretaries of the two schools. Keeping the user base limited helped prevent unnecessary overlaps and ensured a streamlined rollout. Based on the needs assessment, Sulava created the first version, which was then refined together.

In practice, OpeFinder works as follows:
When a substitute teacher is needed, the school enters the details into a form within the application. The app then automatically emails an offer for the open substitute position to people who meet the search criteria. Substitutes can indicate whether they are available or already booked. Once the user approves a substitute, the app automatically sends a confirmation message to that person. This message can include additional information about the assignment, such as instructions for the day, where to collect keys, or how to submit a tax card.

From Sisu to OpeFinder

The working name “Sisu” was later changed to “OpeFinder” (TeacherFinder in english), which better describes how the tool is used. From the very beginning, the idea together with Sulava was to build something that, if successful, could later be expanded for broader use across schools.

“In project terms, it was telling that the needs we originally defined turned out to be clearly larger than what was actually required in the end. By trimming features, we arrived at what I think is a very functional model,” Ahola Luttila explains. “We also noticed that the needs of the two schools were slightly different — for us at Normal Lyceum, a somewhat smaller set of functionalities was sufficient.”

OpeFinder has been in use at the Normal Lyceum since autumn, partly in parallel with the old manual system. The pool of substitute teachers for the app is still being built, with the goal of reaching the necessary number of names in the coming months.

“In practice, our experience with OpeFinder is still fairly limited, and transitioning from one way of working to another always takes time. Based on user experience, we have already adjusted some functions to better serve the overall workflow.”

Freeing up time for what truly matters – across Finland as well

OpeFinder is a pioneering solution in its field, and this still surprises Vice Principal Ahola Luttila.

“I’ve been amazed that so many schools still handle substitute recruitment manually — including our own. There is a huge amount of manual work being done that an application or AI could handle much more easily, quickly and accurately. I believe that with OpeFinder we can free up principals’ and others’ time for what is essential: pedagogical work.”

At Helsinki Normal Lyceum and Viikki Teacher Training School, the work now continues by expanding the substitute pool, enabling broader and deeper experience with OpeFinder.

“In the near future, we will be able to replace the current manual process with this application wherever needed,” Ahola Luttila concludes.

Author: Juhani Lassila
Published in December 2023