Jyväskylä has pioneered many aspects of education and training in Finland - and still does. Now Jyväskylä has introduced a new approach to increase collaboration between the two types of organisation providing education for 15-18 year olds - upper secondary schools and vocational colleges - and this is presently attracting great interest throughout Finland.
The objective is to offer young people a better preparation for the future and further lower the boundaries between upper secondary and vocational education, which have long been organised separately in Finland.
Annukka Lohtander is in her third and final year of a food service course at Jyväskylä College. At the same time she is taking upper secondary school courses to prepare for her matriculation exam. "I wanted to get a vocational qualification while I was doing upper secondary courses," she says.
She already has a clear objective: she intends to continue her studies in the hospitality and catering field at Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, while perhaps working as a waitress at the same time.
Annukka Lohtander provides a good example of the way upper secondary and vocational studies can be combined. The conventional split between upper secondary and vocational education is no longer appropriate - to meet the needs of working life and desires of the students themselves, the boundaries between institutions have to be broken down. In Jyväskylä one response to this challenge is that from next August the city's seven upper secondary schools will become part of Jyväskylä Educational Consortium, which is already responsible for organising vocational education in Jyväskylä region.
"Back in 2005 we calculated that in future we should make sure that we are in a position to offer education combining upper secondary and vocational courses to around one third of the annual intake. More and more students, particularly in vocational education, are taking advantage of this opportunity but the practical implementation is certain to get easier when there is only one body responsible for organisation," says Jari Kinnula, Principal of Voionmaa Upper Secondary School in Jyväskylä.
In the first half of the decade he studied the potential and need for collaboration in secondary education in the Jyväskylä Region.
The upper secondary schools and Jyväskylä College will continue to be separate units. However, Hannu Salminen, Director of Jyväskylä Educational Consortium, promises that collaboration will increase.
"The needs of the students are central. One advantage of the new arrangement is that students can follow their own personal study paths. Another benefit is that both vocational and upper secondary courses are further improved."
Laila Landén, Director of Education and Culture for the City of Jyväskylä, points out that there is a regional dimension to the new approach. Jyväskylä Educational Consortium is in a better position than the city to develop secondary education on a regional basis. "This is a practical implementation of the idea of a shared route for growth, with the city responsible for basic education and the educational consortium responsible for secondary education, in such a way that the needs of the entire annual intake are catered for."
- For further information: www.jao.fi
--------
- In Finland pupils completing comprehensive school transfer either to an upper secondary school or vocational college. For most students, upper secondary school paves the way for study at an institution of higher education. Those studying at vocational colleges learn vocational skills and then start work or, increasingly, continue their studies, perhaps at a university of applied sciences.
- In the past upper secondary schools and vocational colleges have been separate, from the point of view of both their operations and ownership. Upper secondary education is organised by municipalities, while vocational training is generally organised by regional educational consortiums, which involve a number of municipalities.
Photo: Annukka Lohtander is training to be a waitress while preparing for her matriculation exam.
Words by Ismo Myllylä, Photo by Petteri Kivimäki