Sustainable education and responsible learning

JOUTSENO COLLEGE IS A PIONEER OF FOLK HIGH SCHOOLS IN TEACHING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ECO-SOCIAL EDUCATION.

The college offers semester-long study programmes, short courses and adult education, which is subject to a fee. The curriculum includes Japanese language and culture, visual arts and well-being studies. The college also teaches Finnish to foreigners.

The teaching utilises experience-based learning and the principles of planetary social pedagogy.

– Bold experiments and practical work support the growth of our students, says sustainability skills teacher Joanna Hämäläinen.

Sustainability is an exceptionally strong element in the college’s activities. The college integrates the UN Sustainable Development Goals into every aspect of its activities, including teaching. The work has also gained national recognition: Joutseno College has been awarded the OKKA Foundation’s Sustainable Development Certification of Educational Establishments for the second time.

– We see our role as promoting education, so that everyone can play their part in improving the future. Building a sustainable future requires the contribution of all people and actions, not just technology.

Around a hundred students study at the college every year. They are offered a collaborative learning environment where everyone can be themselves.

– It is easier to see the environment as valuable and the well-being of others as important when we first appreciate each other and ourselves and feel that we are a meaningful part of the community. This is the basis for building our students’ relationship with responsibility and sustainability, says Hämäläinen.

The aim for the coming years is to increase the number of students and the college’s recognition in the area. The range of fee-based education and training, accommodation and catering services and short courses will be expanded, and new weekend courses will be introduced to the year-round programme to complement the decades-old summer courses period Taidekesä (“summer of arts”).

– Our main goal is to ensure the vitality of our year-long study programmes, so that the themes of responsibility and a sustainable future can be explored in depth with students, says Hämäläinen.