GENERAL

A folk high school is an educational institution offering a broad range of education for adults. As residential schools, folk high schools foster a sense of community, which forms part of the all-round learning experience an d functions as a cornerstone of the education process.

The folk high schools of today want to offer a viable alternative, to help individuals fulfil their potential, and to help them to become more aware, critical and responsible members of society.

In the Finnish educational system, the role of the folk high schools is to provide adult education and liberal adult education. The courses offered are mainly general or non-formal but initial and further vocational training is also offered.

There are about 90 folk high schools all over Finland. Most of them are owned by private ideological organizations, foundations or corporations. Legislation has granted them far-reaching autonomy and freedom. A majority of them teach in Finnish, with less than 20 teaching in Swedish. The folk high schools are residential schools: studying is full-time and it is possible to have room and board at the schools.

Teaching on the long courses tends to concentrate on social and humanistic subjects, art subjects and languages. There has also been a great increase in the number of short courses offered by folk high schools. Most of the short courses are held in the summertime, so folk high schools generally have activities taking place year-round. The contents of the short courses are similar to the long courses.

A majority of folk high schools now also offer open university courses with more and more being offered each year. The size of a folk high school can vary widely: the largest folk high schools have about 450 students on long courses each year, while the smallest ones have about 30-40.