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NON-FORMAL ADULT EDUCATION IN HELSINKI
T. Saarinen
The Finnish Adult Education Centre (AEC) of the City of Helsinki strives to maintain and to improve the ability of the adult residents to cope and to function in our changing society. The education given in the Centre is part of a process of lifelong learning based on the principles of liberal adult education. Accordingly, the Centre supports the development of the personality of individuals and people’s ability to function in communities, thus promoting democracy, equality and pluralism. The Centre provides both general education and interest based studies, as well as promotes self-development. The vision of the Centre in 2020 is The Finnish Adult Education Centre will be an innovative and esteemed pioneer in adult education, while remaining close to people.
AEC in Helsinki was founded in 1913. It has grown to be the largest AEC in Europe in the field of liberal adult education. Appr. 75 000 people study at the AEC and the AEC gives 100 000 lessons every year. The AEC has 110 full time workers and 800 teachers paid on an hourly basis. The Courses are offered across Helsinki in premises specially planned for learning of adults. In 2011 the operating expenses amounted to 14 million euros. The Course fees cover approximately 13 % of all operating expenditure. The AEC is owned by the city of Helsinki and receives financial support from the Finnish government. The Act on Liberal Adult Education applies to the operations of the AEC.
The classes and lectures are open to all, regardless of place of residence or level of schooling. The course fees are equal for all. The minimum age limit is 16 years and there is no maximum age limit. The courses are offered in more than 20 different languages, crafts, visual arts, music, information technology, social studies, cookery, nature and environment, sports and also Open University. Other activities are public lectures, exhibitions and concerts, theatre performances and open learning spaces. There is also a library for teachers and students. The AEC is co-operating with universities in the field of teacher training. During the year 2011, the Centre organised appr. 4 400 courses and 300 lectures. Most lectures were given on topics related to social issues and literature. The largest individual field of instruction was languages (25 % of all instruction). Instruction in other fields was distributed as follows: visual arts (18%), textiles (13%), music (9%), information technology (8%), the Finnish language (7%), native language (Finnish) and literature (5%), cookery and household management (3.5%), people and society (3.5%), sports and exercise (3%), technical studies (3%), wellbeing and health (1%), others (1%).
The Finnish language instruction for immigrants accounted for 7% of all instruction. The immigrants were also offered instruction in social studies, information technology, languages other than Finnish, crafts and cookery and household management. The AEC also arranged groups where Finnish speaking people and immigrants were together. The overall student age distribution was as follows: 20-24 years (3.7%), 25-34 years (19.9%), 35-44 years (15.4%), 45-54 years (16.4%), 55-64 years (17.9%), and 65 years and over (25.1%). Women accounted for 77% of the students, and men for 23%.
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The Centre is participating also in some national and international projects. One of the most important national projects is co-operation in capital region with other AECs. The result of this co-operation is the common enrollment system. The Ministry of Education and Culture has a program of study vouchers for seniors, unemployed and immigrants. The AEC has been able to give vouchers for hundreds of students. International EU-projects have included for example the following: The Learning Partnership Understanding the needs of older people, improving methods and creating new ones, the U.N.I.C project. It focused on the issue of increasing the engagement of both active and inactive older people (50+) onto lifelong learning. The AEC was also involved in other EU-projects, e.g. Intercultural Dialogue to Develop a European Identity among European Member States (I.D.E.A.S). The aim of the project was to find methods to improve intercultural dialogue between immigrants and the original citizens in European countries. The EU-project SLIC aimed to give senior citizens a possibility to develop their own skills and to find new possibilities in the period of retiring. Many of the employees of the AEC also participated in international conferences, training and events during the year. Many international and national groups visit AEC every year.
In Finland more than 1.7 million citizens (the total number of the citizens is about 5.4 Million) participate in different types of adult education each year. More than half of this number is made up of the working age population, and this figure is high also in international terms. The aim is to reach 60 per cent of the working age population participating in education by 2012 annually. To achieve this figure, the participation base needs to be expanded and the study opportunities of the population groups who participate the least must be improved. The goal is to increase the study opportunities of people with no vocational education and training or whose education is outdated, entrepreneurs, the staff of small and medium-sized enterprises, immigrants and people aged over 55. Adult education is designed to provide study opportunities for adults. It encompasses self-motivated education, staff training and labour market training. The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for self-motivated education, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy for labour market training and employers for staff training. Finland has a well-developed network of 330 non-formal adult education institutes. The network has been built along with the Finnish civil society since the end of the 19th century, almost 150 years. The folk high schools, the municipal adult education centers (originally worker’s institutes) and the study centers of study associations are the oldest forms and provide the main part of the non-formal adult education. The summer universities (a sort of Open University) and physical education institutes are new comers in the network. It has been asked if all five forms of institutes are really necessary, but with their different backgrounds, histories, and profiles they perform different functions, and also reflect the pluralistic nature of the society. The non-formal adult education institutes set up their objectives independently and they have independent responsibility over the usage of the state subsidy. The essential features are the diversity of curricula, voluntary nature of participation and use of learner-based methods. Cultural studies - arts, music, handicraft and languages - are the most popular courses, followed by humanistic and education studies, and then social, health and physical studies.
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