The sixth Adult Learners Week in
Finland was celebrated from 6 – 11 October 2003.
The aim of the Week was to increase the educational level of people with
jobs but little education
by encouraging and motivating them to acquire information about their learning
opportunities. The week attempted to reach people directly in their working
places through individual guidance and easily accessible and understandable
information materials. Adult Learners Week was also supporting a five-year
programme “Upgrading of Knowledge”, which is coordinated by the Education
Ministry. The programme is providing opportunities for employees without
vocational education to obtain a qualification alongside their work.
The main event of the week, a seminar “Competitiveness, quality of life and
equality through adult education” was held in the Finlandia hall in Helsinki. The event
gathered 700 participants from all over the country, and was opened by the Minister
of Education. The Adult Learners Week awards 2003 were given to adult learners
who had completed vocational education after long time in work. Also
an employer, a company in the metal sector, was awarded for a successful education
programme, which resulted more than half of the 150 employees obtaining vocational
qualification.
The organizing of the Adult Learners Week 2003 was appointed to the Adult Education Coordinating Unit (AIKE) by the Finnish Ministry of Education, which, together with the Ministry of Labour, were the main sponsors of the Festival.
2002
Adult Learners Week
in 2002 took place on 9 - 17 November. The Week was organised under the theme
"Education - an investment for the future". The ALW 2002
emphasized the importance of updating skills and knowledge to meet the needs of
the rapidly changing society and job markets. The specific target groups of the
campaign were adult educators and employers, as well as people having or
changing jobs, or in precautious situation such as immigrants.
The main aims of the Week were to motivate people in the working age to take part in learning activities, to call to attention the importance of the quality of education, and to promote those forms of education using new technology. The educational needs of people of foreign origin were addressed with a three-day event "The Adult Foreigners' Education Path" with information and guidance in eight languages. Moreover, a guidebook "From basic skills to a profession - manual for adult foreigners in Finland" was published by the Ministries of Employment and of Education, and the National Board of Education. The Manual is downloadable free of charge in nine languages (among them English, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Somali...) at http://www.aoviikko.org.
Adult Learners Week 2002 was organised by the Rectors Conference of Finnish Polytechnics ( ARENE).
Background...
An adult learners week has
taken place in Finland each year since 1998 in September, with the overall
objective of motivating adults to join learning activities (in showing
that it can be enjoyable!), of presenting existing opportunities, and of
promoting the idea of lifelong learning. In 2000, the events during the
week of 4 -10 September revolved around the theme of Key Skills in the
Information Society for All. Based on the view that the skills to use ICTs
constitute the new basic requirements for full participation in democratic
societies, the week concentrated on issues of equal access to and equal
opportunities for adults to study and learn through and for ICTs.
Adult learners week in 2000 was also part of an overall five-year national project, supported by the Ministry of Education, to foster education, training and research in the information society. As one of the special events in the framework of the week, an international conference on Adult Education and Culture - Working Together was organized in Helsinki. On 8 September, an internet link installed for this particular purpose allowed the participants to follow live the proceedings during the launching ceremony of International Adult Learners' Week in Hannover.
In 2001, adult learners' week took place on 19 - 25 November, concentrating on Learning for the Working Life. Equally addressing learners/employees and employers, the focus was on the changing learning needs at work (and in society) and how these need to be met through newly developed approaches in adult learning activities. Some special activities were tied to the question of foreign languages (or immigrants learning Finnish/Swedish) with regard to the European Year of Languages. While approximately forty counties and municipalities all over Finland arranged activities at local level during the week, at central level the Ministry of Education invited around 600 participants to a national conference on adult learning on 23 November, and a "7-days adult learning center" in the main railway station in Helsinki provided the space for a different adult education institute each day to present its work.
Contact:
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Johanna Korhonen
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