In the Finnish educational system, the role of the folk high schools is to provide adult education and non-formal adult education. The teaching in folk high schools is mainly general education, but initial and further vocational training is also offered. There are 87 folk high school campuses in Finland. Folk high schools are typically chracterized by being residential and by having an ideological and pedagogical freedom.
A central form of activity for folk high schools is the so-called long course. In practice, this period is divided into different study lines which on the average last from 30 to 36 workweeks. 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. A majority of folk high schools now also offer open university courses with more and more being offered each year.
The folk high school movement is characteristic of the Nordic countries. It originated in Denmark around the middle of the 19th century.
Following folk high schools have a presentation page or information about the school in English. The links below will take you directly to this information / presentation page.
Kansanopisto on monipuolinen aikuisoppilaitos. Kansanopisto tarjoaa
vaihtoehdon ja auttaa Sinua löytämään ja toteuttamaan oman opintopolkusi.
"Opiskelu on todella kivaa ja rentoa, on ylittänyt odotukset täysin!"
(peruskoululinjan opiskelija)
