Student co-operatives in Finnish Upper Secondary Schools

Abstract: TOPIC 5-STAGE 1-MESO Student enterprises are often team enterprises and team student enterprises are often student co-operatives, school co-operatives or JA startup companies at least in Europe. This choice is... [ view full abstract ]

Abstract: TOPIC 5-STAGE 1-MESO

Student enterprises are often team enterprises and team student enterprises are often student co-operatives, school co-operatives or JA startup companies at least in Europe. This choice is presumably due to the fact that already the starting point of a co-operative is often co-entrepreneurship. Doing together as a pedagogy has been noticed as a workable learning paradigm when developing entrepreneurship education. Actually it is true in all teaching and learning.

In Finland co-operatives are often used as a combination of learning environment and company model for students. This started slowly already in 90’s in the Jyväskylä University of Applied Science Team Academy but now there are one or more student co-operatives in almost every Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences and the situation is the same in many vocational schools too. Now there are student co-operatives to be found also at least in ten Finnish Upper Secondary Schools (“lukio”).

This research (by doctor Eliisa Troberg & doctoral student Pekka Hytinkoski) was carried out during May - November 2015 as a cooperation with Pellervo Society and University of Helsinki and it contained a review-process about what has been written about this phenomenon before, specialist-interviews and interviews with teachers and principals that have organized and guided student co-operatives in Finnish Upper Secondary Schools.

The results of the study showed that co-operative entrepreneurship education is a suitable model when new active, entrepreneurial, cooperative initiative learning and also task-based experiences are produced for the students of Upper Secondary Schools. But these activities have to be integrated as a part of the everyday teaching and the other possible school goals. The method needs a combination of courage to develop new teaching models but also patience to use traditional tasks and models that are already working. The results of the study were surprisingly positive – especially now that the Finnish national curriculum for upper secondary schools is changing in the fall 2016.

At best student co-operatives could be used as a vehicle to produce new curriculum-based – community-based and more active - learning in upper secondary schools but this scenario requires a planning period, common goals, at least a group of interested teachers and a principal, student (family) interests and enough education and knowhow for all the stakeholders.

Doctoral student (education) Pekka Hytinkoski
University of Helsinki Ruralia Institute
pekka.hytinkoski@helsinki.fi