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FOLK UNIVERSITIES IN FINLAND -POSSIBILITIES TO BENEFIT EXPERIENCE IN RUSSIA
V. Torvinen
From the history of adult education centers in Finland. City of Helsinki Adult Education Centre (official name - Workers’ College) was established in 1914 when Finland was a Russian Grand Duchy. Its main purpose was to raise the level of public education and promote educational equality in order to avoid large marginalized classes under the circumstances of free market economy. The core and soul of Adult Education Centre's founder, Principal Z. Castren's educational policy was "becoming from citizen to human being” and the fight against economic inequality.
Mitigation of social tensions. The employers also understood the importance of the institution and supported the establishment. Institutes have since been established in all cities and municipalities in Finland. They are part of Finnish society, the mechanism for dealing with social tensions and contributing to the balanced economic and social development. Centers provide equal opportunity for all adults in self-development and learning. City of Helsinki's Folk University is the largest in its field in Finland and one of the largest in Europe. It belongs to the management of the City of Helsinki and operates as an independent department and board under the auspices of Lord Mayor. The number of staff is 1100 and students than 70000. The center operates mainly by part-time teachers with fixed-term contracts. Peer teaching is (eg, more advances students in information technology teach others) and open learning environments (given the free use of computer classes) is constantly growing.
Operating model in Finland. Teaching takes place in the evenings and during free time, when the employed people may participate in different courses. It does not provide a direct vocational training, but supports the adult population's ability to cope with a rapidly changing society. Customers include the entire adult population, but the specific target groups include the elderly, pensioners, immigrants and those at risk of exclusion. The courses are organized for example in computer science, languages, visual arts, crafts, music, theatrical expression and debate on various social themes. The objective here is to maintain citizens’ social activity and stimulate creativity. Fees for students are low. Pensioners and the unemployed will receive special discounts. The state sees the importance of centers providing financing of about 50% of the budget. Municipalities are responsible for about 40% and student fees cover about 10% of the cost. Cooperation with universities is intense: there is also so called "Open University” within
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the center, where you can study and carry out academic courses and grades.
Leading principles of adult education centers in Finland: (a) People need information and understanding of international and social change; (b) Dialog and common understanding contribute to positive and constructive behavior; (c) Importance of using modern methods of adult education; (d) Provision of learning opportunities for associations and NGOs, for their own learning goals; (e) Mentally and socially rehabilitative and motivational courses; (f) In today’s society citizens need support in basic information skills (IT); (g) Hobbies are also important: crafts, music, expressive talent;
(h) Courses for retired, in collaboration with the pensioners' organisations;
(i) Tailored courses for groups in danger of exclusion; (j) To promote international interaction courses (languages, cultures).
Possibilities to benefit Finnish adult education center experience in Russia. People's Universities have played an important part in the development of Finnish society. Every citizen knows that he can take to develop and educate themselves in their cities located in the center, if he wants. Finnish experience may also be useful in the social development of Russia. Tasks of folk universities could be: (a) Taking advantage of scientific expertise gained in Finnish folk universities; (b) Releasing intellectual potential of citizens towards the common good of society; (c) Strengthening and reinforcement of the identity and value system of Russian citizens; (d) Mitigation of social tensions and reducing the risk of exclusion; (e) Support for the adult population in a rapidly changing society; (f) Provision of equal learning opportunities for the elderly, pensioners and the unemployed. We propose to study together possibilities to launch a common project with an aim to establish folk universities in North-West Russia.
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