Seinajoki youth council (Thur 14.05.09 pm)

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What a day it had been so far., and then off to we knew not where...

We arrived at a fantastic youth provision (often referred to as a youth house in Finland) where the youth council of Seinajoki had very kindly arranged to cook us dinner!

I got hammered in table tennis by the guy in the picture second from the right, which underlined to me my need to brush up on my youth work skills!(Joke).

We helped prepare the food and it gave us a chance to meet and talk to the guys which was a really nice opportunity. The youth council comes from schools all across the area and aims to input and lobby on local matters. During their presentation (in fantastic English) they described how "meeting the man" can sometimes work out and sometimes not.

It seemed to me that the problems we often face here in Wales, in terms of getting local decision makers involved and interested and trying to break down the stereotypes of young people, are just as relevant in Finland.

However, the youth council seem to be pro-active in representing the views of other young people on matters that affect them.

This was a really great night and the young people were really friendly and talkative - despite the downhill decline of my table tennis skills.

Quick Visit to Seinajoki Skate Park (Thurs 14.05.09 pm)

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So I didn't really know where we we were going and then we turned up here:

An indoor skatepark run and maintained mostly by young people. Man, I loved this place but unfortunately there wasn't a spare board so i could have a quick blast around!

This place is so nice; the lines are awesome and I could spend a whole day here just carving it up.

Anyway, the whole thing is run and organised by the young people with some help from local youth workers. They run film nights, competitions and all sorts in order to fund raise for events and maintenance.

I found a youtube vid of the park being used HERE. It's often the case that young people are criminalised for "hanging around" and "causing trouble", I know this form first hand experience, but when you see this kind of pro-active, empowering work being truly led by young people themselves, you really want to shout about it and celebrate it.

At least I do, but then I'm a bit biased towards skating stuff.

Visit to Rytmikorjaamo (Thurs 14.05.09 pm)

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This is a great live music venue in Seinajoki which sees many live events, local bands and offers practice rooms and facilities for up and coming bands at a reduced rate.

The guys were telling us about a project they're involved in called Louhimo where they go out to local schools with music equipment (guitar, drums, keyboards etc) and give the young people a taste of music with the aim to produce a "song" often within as little time as 45 minutes!

It's often the case that these young people have never picked up an instrument before and to give them a taste of music and all the attached soft skills that go with that is a great idea. Again, even though it's about working in schools, the schools themselves seem to be very much on board and the project is very successful. It reminds me of Community Music Wales, where the idea is very much the same.

Although the music scene in Finland seems vibrant it would appear that there is not a lot of interest in buying music nationally, so unfortunately it is often the case that bands are aiming for success outside Finland, although at this project they are also trying to bring the music back home.

A really interesting insight to the Finnish psyche was offered up by our guide here, who suggested that Finnish people in general are quite reserved and take some time to "come out of their shell" as it were (a bit like reverse Belgians??? He He) and for this reason are often shy of performing. He said this may be the reason that metal is so popular in Finland as "you don't really need to be a great singer"; a fantastic observation!

I feel that music is often a great vehicle for youth work and the associated skills it aims to encourage and celebrate. This coupled with pro-active information work always makes for fantastically empowering and exciting project work. We definitely had a great time here!!!

Policy and Structures of Youth INFO work in Finland (Thus 14.05.09 pm)

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So, after being hospitably fed at the high school in Ilmajoki, we were of back to Seinajoki to find out about some national policy and projects and wider European work in Finland.

The ministry of Education in Finland is the co-ordinating body for national youth information and counselling services. These services have been strongly influenced by the Finnish Youth Act (2006) which seems very forward thinking in it's approach, also the ERYICA Charter (see the young person friendly version HERE plus the charter itself HERE) and the Finish Governments Child and Youth Policy Programme 2007-2011 (get the PDF HERE).

Altogether there is a lot of national support for youth information which is reflected in the attitudes expressed especially within the youth policy programme. I only briefly thumbed through the document but I would recommend a look to all. I'm definitely coming back to Wales with that document as a great example of how policy can be forward thinking and far reaching; insightful whilst being able to provide concrete challenges. The attitude to new technologies and internet use, once again, aroused my interest and maybe there's a leaf or two in Chapter 6 "Digital Generation" we could use? Comments please!

The next part of the presentation introduced a novel and exciting approach to E democracy via THIS SITE (Finnish only). This site (launched 2008( allows young people to voice their concerns and put forward ideas that they feel are relevant to their local areas. The ideas are posted and then voted on by peers, when the voting reaches a certain level the ideas/concerns are passed on to local decision makers. The service also allows decision makers to take into account the views of young people before making decisions. Although the site is only in Finnish, a cursory look can show the mechanics of operation.

This service is being rolled out across localities all over Finland and for me offers a fantastic engagement and e-democracy tool which we can all benefit from. We even discussed later how this tool may be an open source forum...I've had some ideas around that too!

Suffice to say, I felt this was a great idea although there have been concerns regarding the speed at which the process operates; in that it can take a long time for these concerns to be addressed.

Finally was an update from ERYICA (European Youth Information and Counselling Agency), especially around the Meet the Streets Project which is developing to it's next stage which involves a tour bus!! The project aims to collect the views of young people across Europe on the future of youth policy and how current policy effects them. Using "in your pocket" technology and open source editing and publishing this really is a fantastic information project.

If you're reading this in Wales please go and look at the Meet the Streets link above and if you want to get involved please contact me and we'll provide everything you need: training, equipment etc. The next phase of the project really sounds exciting and it's a great opportunity to get involved!!!

So, I think the state of policy in Finland seems to be extrememly encouraging and we can all take something from that. At a local, national and European level i feel we can all offer something!!! Please get in touch with me if you want to get involved...

South Ostrobothnia Folk High School (Thu 14.05.09 am)

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So, after the JIBBO centre, we moved on to the folk high school, about five minutes away:

A really impressive building and grounds, especially in the lovely weather!

This is a private (fee paying) school that offers a vocational youth work qualification. This qualification is free and is recognised as a national youth work qualification in youth work.

The training is very much "on the job", so if anyone is considering providing a placement for a worker, this is the place to start.

I won't go into too much detail as to the programmes on offer here as all the info you need can be found using the link above. However, if you're interested in offering a placement to Finnish students just get in touch with me.

For me, the really intersting point that came out of this visit was around age. The course is aimed at 14-19 year olds and Satu (Teacher, Educational Subjects) expressed some concern at people of this age choosing a career who's main area of work is aimed at themselves.

In Wales, with the development and introsduction of the degree course in youth and community work, there may well be a similar issue as we see more and more young people choosing youth work as a career option withouht, perhaps, the experience to back it up.

As Satu expressed, it can be difficult for younger people to fully appreciate a youth work situation without relevant, professional experience. The paralell here in Wales can often mean there is a disparity between those with the experience and insight and those with the qualification.

Another point that junps out at me from this is the inclusion (and once again the mutual exclusivity) of youth work as part of the wider vocation of information work. Here in Wales, it is often the case that workers are given the guidelines and mantra of youth work as to "offer information, advice and guidance" without necessarily investigating and exploring the implications and reach of "information".

Of course there are arguments on both sides and the very fact that a national qualification that raises the profile of youth work is by no means the least important. However, I certainly feel that there is always room for reflection and actoion based on that reflection in order to improve the quality of our services.

I hope this is a discussion that will go on.

JIBBO - Ilmajoki (Thu 14.05.09 am)

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JIBBO is the youth information and counselling umbrella organisation for the region and we visited a centre set just within the grounds of a school in Ilmajoki (just down the road from Seinajoki).

This is a great information centre with really friendly youth work staff who are pro-actively providing information services to young people in the area.

There were a couple of points that came up during our brief visit here which I think are very applicable to work here in Wales and maybe in the wider world of youth information work.

The first was the concept of working in schools. Oh yes, the classic situation where, even though this particular information centre is within the school grounds, there has been some resistance to information provision. I think, from listening to the staff, it's a matter of understanding the relevance of information and how it can be mutually beneficial for workers, teachers and young people. The staff at the centre expressed how it has been a struggle for the last year or so to be "accepted" by the formal educators and has required a pro-active approach in terms of engagement with the school to promote the value and importance of information work.

However, it would seem that the work is paying dividends for both the school and the information centre with mutual referrals and signposting as well as the opportunity for joined up workshops and events. I feel that this example really shows how information work can be a "seasonal" venture (e.g. providing pro-active information depending on the time of year; info around exams perhaps?) as well as a preventative service (e.g. providing pro-active information relating to monitoring of enquiries; providing workshops/specialists in response to an increase in enquiries around housing/bullying etc.).

The second point raised concerned my ongoing internal ethical discussion around the often mutual exclusivity of information work vs issue based/traditional youth work. The staff here felt that their information work was very much a "part" of their youth work, a part of their working week when they were required to provide purely information work.

For me, youth work is very much a part of information work; it's all about how you see and reflect on the way you work and the methods you employ dependent on the situation that arises. Now, I don't want to start going on about praxis, Friere and so on as that's for another post, but I'm really becoming fascinated with youth work approaches and the inclusion or otherwise of the wider field of youth information work that harnesses and encompasses many youth work based approaches.

Although this was very much a flying visit, it did provoke a lot of debate for me which I hope will provide some comments here.

More info on JIBBO HERE (Finnish only)

Seinajoki youth dept (Wed 13.05.09 pm)

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So after some 4 hours on the bus we arrived in the city of Senajoki. The journey was long although it did provide an opportunity to witness the Finnish landscape. For me (I'm just a boy form the Welsh valleys like innit?) it was very flat. I'm not used to flat and the expanse of flatness was something to behold. It also struck me that Finland, in general, seems to be a rural place with great distances between major towns and cities. For this reason young people board at schools and so, during school times the major centres can be very busy although during holidays the centres are relatively empty.

The youth dept of the city and region of Seinajoki sees all young people (those under 30 in accordance with the Finnish Youth Act) as "active operators in a tolerant and cultural town".

I really liked this description; it puts a really positive slant on young people and along with a commitment to developing culture and business as well as multi cultural and sustainable development in the town demonstrates a sense of community development with relationships at it's heart.

The youth dept talks about tapping into the "energy" of the young people, joined up working and utilising "stages" to showcase the talents of young people. This concept of participation and engagement within the community in order to encourage community cohesion and pride seems to be reflected in the way that young people from the region will return to settle down after school/college/university. There's definitely a sense of pride in Seinajoki.

I think that the "brain drain" we often see in other countries where young people take their skills elsewhere and do not return to invest in their own communities, is not so apparent here and the youth dept seems to be encouraging this attitude through community events such as the annual "Provinssirock" rock festival (Link to the English page).

Interestingly, once again the issue of "online youth work" popped up as the youth dept are calling for more youth workers to spend time in online counselling fora. This once more demonstrates the falling number of face to face enquiries and the need to go to "where young people are"; surely a pre-requisite of the youth worker? This opened up a great deal of debate (at least in my head) as to where the line is and reminded me of some of the discussions over on UK youth work online (LINK) where these issues are able to be discussed openly and hopefully inform policy over here.

I think this recurring theme in Finland has given me something to bring back to Wales and discuss with the Information Workers Network. I'd be interested to receive any comments around this issue, whether in Wales the UK or other countries. Hmmm.

In conclusion, I felt there was a real energy and motivation within the youth dept in Seinajoki and despite universal issues of staffing, time and resources the centre seemed busy, running dance and ballet programmes, arts and crafts etc. as well as a space for general information work.

More info on Seinajoki youth dept HERE.