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DEMOCRACY EQUALS PEOPLE
In many adult education centres it has been noticed that the centres play an important role in local democracy. For example, the Workers’ Institute of Vaasa has gone through a substantial project on democracy. « At the beginning, the basic goal of liberal adult education was to strengthen the basic know-how of people. At the beginning, it was enough to teach how to read and write. « In today’s modern society various skills are needed », says Ms Marjaana Heikius, a principal from Vaasa. A project which is called « Local democracy and long-lasting development » was aimed to promote wide discussion of the problems of the future. In this project people were given a chance to influence their own living environment and their own community. "Democracy is at its best where people may study and do things they are interested in" says Ms Marjaana Heikius.
DEVELOPING THE EVALUATION SYSTEM
Evaluation means, at best co-operation and development of processes. All the parties involved will benefit from it. At worst evaluation leads to the classification of different educational establishments as good or bad. Evaluation was introduced in Finnish educational system 10 years after other European countries. Now even the wide and scattered field of adult education has become subject of evaluation. Professor Risto Rinne from the University of Turku says that very strict and quantity-based indicators are not suitable for evaluating adult education. « It is still unclear what kind of evaluation system will be developed in Finland », says Mr Rinne.
FINNISH DEPUTY HEAD FOR THE EUROPEAN SCHOOL OF LUXEMBURG
Mr Kari Kivinen is the first Finn to be elected a deputy head in the European School of Luxembourg. He will be responsible for the nursery and primary schools. Mr Kivinen is not a newcomer to the school. Before joining the European School of Luxembourg he was deputy head of the French-Finnish School of Helsinki, in Finland. Over the past eleven years, the multicultural educational environment has been his forte. Another Finn who hold a similar post is Ms Riitta Liimatainen. She is a deputy head at the European School of Karlsuhe, Germany. Nine European Schools exist in Europe: three in Belgium, two in Germany and one in Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy, respectively.
