Maija has taught in International Schools around the world for over 15 years. During her teaching career, she has worked with different age groups and nationalities, and has seen first-hand how the learning environment can enhance the culture of learning in the classroom. Maija is an inquiry-based teacher, facilitating self-efficacy and supporting self-directed learning with her students and teams.
Learning spaces play a central role when students are engaged in discovery, research, and inquiry. They can provide students with access to learning at a whole new level — allowing agency and control over the way they best learn.
Maija believes that it is paramount to the learning experience of today and the future that students have opportunities to make connections to the world outside the school building and engage with the community around them. Learning spaces that provide opportunities to explore the environment, nature, and outdoor learning can profoundly impact students’ engagement and ownership of learning.
In her leadership roles, Maija has promoted a similarly respectful philosophy for learning, with teams empowered to make decisions about their own learning. In her most recent role as Director of Professional Learning at NIST International School in Bangkok, she promoted lifelong learning and provided professional learning opportunities for teachers across the South East Asian region through the Professional Learning Hub @ NIST. In this role, Maija also engaged in learning space and furniture design, and was part of the six-year renovation project of all learning spaces at NIST.
Maija is originally from Rovaniemi at the Arctic Circle in Finland and studied at the University of Oulu in a special International Master of Education programme focusing on intercultural competencies in education and learning in a multicultural classroom. Her multiple language skills have taken her around the world: she has taught at United Nations International Schools in Hanoi and New York, in addition to her native Finland and her most recent commitment in Bangkok.
She is currently studying for a Diploma of Interior Design at the International School of Colour and Design in Melbourne, Australia, focusing on learning spaces throughout her studies. Maija runs workshops and professional development for students, teachers, and parents on learning spaces and their impact on learning, and is engaged in conversations about learning spaces with several schools across the Asia Pacific region.