Outdoor LABS

Finland

The Labs are primary and secondary schools in Hungary, Spain, Finland and Ireland that agreed to test the OTTER Education Outside the Classroom methodology. Each Lab will keep track of the outcomes and take note of the results.

School name: Harjuniitty
Students age: Secondary School
Location: Nokia

Description: On a Finnish scale, Harjuniitty school is a large school with 800 students. It is located in Southern Finland, near the fast-growing region of the City of Tampere.

School name: Atala school
Students age: Primary School
Location: Tampere

Description: Atala School is a primary school for about 400 students (grades 1-6 and pre-primary classes) in Tampere, Finland's third largest city. It is located in a suburb surrounded by forests and nature reserve

The Finnish education system

In Finland, comprehensive basic education lasts 9 years. Children start school at the age of 7 and the first 6 years they are taught most of their subjects by one teacher. During grades 7-9 (age 12-15 years), students start learning with different teachers for different subjects. In total, there are more than 20 subjects. The Finnish educational system doesn't have any mandatory, high-stake national tests and the latest curriculum puts a strong emphasis on transversal skills and teaching multi-disciplinary learning modules.