The Power of Non Formal Education

Why this Training Course?

• To stimulate the participants to feel and reflect about the power of non-formal education (NFE) by experimenting different kind of non-formal educational methods.
• To analyze the role and reception of NFE in our different countries within a common Europe.
• To discover and debate the European strategy of NFE.
• To fight against the growing consuming approaches towards young people in the non-formal education field.
• To explore meanings, roles and complementary of different educational dimensions(formal, non-formal, informal).
• To reconsider daily youth work practices.

How it will be done?

In order to have real impact, the participants experience an innovative approach, using a full immersion in the experiential learning cycle: doing/ feeling, reflecting, transferring...

The TC is not limited to the couple of days the participants spend together but starts before the actual encounter. Participants should therefore be well aware that they will be actively involved from the very beginning.

Pre-Training Immersion

• Starting around 6 weeks before the training, through the “NFE News”, participants will receive weekly news which invites reflection on pedagogical issues and collect information / documentation. Participants are part of the building of this NFE News. Also a closed Facebook group will be created to promote interactions between participants before TC starts.
• Issues / topics tackled: perception / recognition of NFE in your country, methods you use/have used…

A Fundamental Flow during the Training

• Experiencing: different educational settings, different non formal education methods (role play, simulation game, exercises...).
• Reflecting: on the methods and its impacts, on the power and limits of NFE, on building a pedagogical process…
• Transferring: to the own reality of participants, in order to improve ways of working with young people.
• Sharing: different perceptions, current situations and experiences.
• Developing: the building capacity of the participants, by including them in the decision process of the project designing (participants will decide some sessions they feel they need to have) but also in the implementation of the program (“Power to the People – the People who are you” moments).

Organised in Wintery Finland

The training in organised in one of the nine official Finnish Youth Centres that are founded and partly funded by the Ministry of Culture and Education.

Youth Centre Pikku-Syöte is located next to a popular winter sports resort. By law the centre provides services for youth and youth work, but it also partly funded by leasure time and touristic attractions. https://pikkusyote.fi/en/

The participants will be accommodated in single rooms.

Pudasjärvi village is situated roughly 145 km to north-east from Oulu, the most closest airport on your way to Pikku-Syöte. We will organise bus transfers from the Oulu airport to Pikku-Syöte from selected flights; also transfers from Pikku-Syöte back to Oulu airport will be organised. More detailed information about the arrangements will be sent to the selected participants.

Training Activities during the Pandemic

The activity is planned to be residentially hosted. In case the COVID-19 situation prevails and prevents travelling, the organiser reserves the right to cancel the residential activity and organising the activity online.

The organisers will ensure that safety and hygienic measures needed in relation to Covid-19 are in place during the activity. All participants will be accommodated in single rooms. In activities we use face masks and safety distance, or the safety guidelines which are valid at the time of the event.

The organiser will follow and apply all COVID-19 health and safety guidelines by the Finnish government, health officials and regional government, which are valid by the time of the seminar.

In order to travel, all selected participants will need to be able to show the European digital corona certificate (EUDCC) when leaving home country and entering Finland. More detailed information about the travel guidelines will be provided to the selected participants closer to the event.

The rules about entering Finland will be updated on the Finnish Border Guard website

More information about travelling to Finland can be found on the webpage of the Finnish Institute for Health and Wellfare.

General information about travelling in Europe can be found from the EU's Reopen EU website, but please be aware that the information may be outdated, because updating the website is slow.