Dr Lasse Siurala, director, Department of Youth, City of Helsinki

““Policy Makes a Difference: Making Education and Youth Engagement

Successful in Finland””

Inquiry to Impact Symposium 30 April 2007, Minneapolis

Millionth citizen (600 000)

President of FinlandTarja Halonen

Parliament men 116

women 84 (42 %)

Women in power

Government men 8

women 12 (60 %)

City council Rakel Hiltunen, chair

City Board Suvi Rihtniemi, chair

Helsinki City Youth Committee

Johanna Sumuvuori, chair

Social inclusion through youth work (Helsinki City youth service)

Early prevention

Targeted intervention Reintegration

Youth centres,

cultural youth work,

support to youth NGOs and action groups,

youth work in multimedia context,

counselling

street work,

work shops (production schools),

peer education,

integrating ethnic minorities,

support to youth in the net

multi-agency integration services for youth at risk,

projects for special groups,

Lasse Siurala: Youth transition and youth policy. Seminar on Canadian and international perspectives on youth at risk policy. Ottawa, December 12-13, 2006

The Anglo-American “justice model” and the Nordic “welfare model”

“Good social policy is best criminal policy” “Criminal sentences tend to increase liability to further

crimes”

In short, characteristic of the welfare model include:

low imprisonment rate, low crime renewal rate, low rate of criminality in general

strong role of child and youth authorities in dealing with law breaking youth

emphasis on universal social services and benefits high quality education system support to children, young people and families support to youth work and NGOs (youth, sport and

cultural)

Department of Youth, City of Helsinki

300 municipal professionally trained full-time youth workers 54 Youth Centres specialised services like Youth Information Centre, Media Centre, Cultural

Centre, Domestic Animal Farm, Theatre, Nature House, House of craft and visual arts, Traffic Education Centre, Youth Centre for Girls Only, indoor skating hall, 21 outdoor skate parks, camping islands, residential education centre, Virtual Youth Centre, Virtual Cultural Arena, LAN party facilities etc

Educational contests for amateur bands, street and show dance, theatre. Media art etc

Democracy education with the school Support to youth at risk 1.2 million visits Support to NGOs (about 420): subsidies for overhead costs, staff, rents,

camps and projects, free of charge use of youth centres, camping islands, training centres and photocopying and lending audio-visual and camping equipments. 100% funds for 8 NGOs to run Youth Centres.

Budget 24Me (2007)

Mikko Salasuo: “Atomised generation”,

City of Helsinki Urban Facts, research series 2006/6

“[the atomised generation] forms a particle-like mosaic, constantly moving in the shivering field of cultural phenomena. It is characterised by the freedom and the demand of choice. It does not have a linear direction, in a way it has stopped in constant change.”

Leena Suurpää Editorial Young 2007 15: 5-7. [PDF]  

Henk Vinken

New life course dynamics?: Career orientations, work values and future perceptions of Dutch youth Young 2007 15: 9-30. [Abstract] [PDF] [References]  

Barbara Stauber

Motivation in transition Young 2007 15: 31-47. [Abstract] [PDF] [References]  

Marian Ådnanes

Social transitions and anomie among post-communist Bulgarian youth Young 2007 15: 49-69. [Abstract] [PDF] [References]  

Trees Pels and Mariëtte De Haan

Socialization practices of Moroccan families after migration: A reconstruction in an ‘acculturative arena’ Young 2007 15: 71-89. [Abstract] [PDF] [References]  

Lena Adamson, Laura Ferrer-Wreder, and Jennifer Kerpelman

Self-concept consistency and future orientation during the transition to adulthood Young 2007 15: 91-112. [Abstract] [PDF] [References]  

"I'm interesting in politics"

21

25

33

39

44

46

54

66

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Finland

United Kingdom

Switzerland

United States

Italy

Chile

Slovak Rebublic

Cyprus

“The Mayor’s Forum”

Our mission is to help young people become

active citizens through support to NGOs,

measures to promote participation and

through empowerment of youth at risk.

Mission and Strategic ObjectivesMission and Strategic Objectives

Our strategic objectives are to support

participation and social reinforcing of the

young people.

Education enrolment in OECD countries 2004

 

Number of years at which over 90 % of the population are enrolled

Age range at which over 90 % of the population are enrolled

Age of pupils at the beginning of full-time compulsory education

Age of pupils at the end of full-time compulsory education

France 15 3-17 6 16

Japan 14 4-17 6 15

Finland 13 6-18 7 16

Netherlands 12 5-16 5 18

United States

11 6-16 6 17

Mexico 9 5-13 6 15

Turkey 6 8-13 6 14

Lähteet: OECD. Education at a Glance. OECD Indicators 2006Oppivelvollisuuden alkamisikä: Key Data on Education in Europe 2005 (EU-maat) lukuvuosi 2002-2003, muut maat eri lähteitä.

School and youth work joining forces

• School councils• Youth participation in

the Youth Centres • Regional Panels• Local Youth Councils• The Mayor’s Forum

Civil Society SupportCivil Society Support

One central mean of promoting active citizenship is to support the activity of non-governmental youth organisations and non-organised youth groups.

Over 400 youth organisations and youth groups with 30 000 young people under the age of 25 use the Civil Society Support services during the year.

We provide them with facilities and monetary support which enable the regular functioning of the organisations. We support the activity of the organisations by offering training. We promote the principles of sustainable development.

Civil Society SupportCivil Society Support

The services include:

Subsidies ((1 016 470 €)•General subsidy •For staff •For camps •For projects

18 premises for 20 organisations having regular and wide range of activities

Other services and facilities•All the Department’s premises free of charge•Two training centres and Bengtsår Camping Island•Photocopying and publication making workshop•Audio-visual and camping equipment lending•Counselling in handicrafts•Environmental services by Nature House

Youth Centres run by organisations and Partnership Centres•Kaleva Youth Association, Helsinki YMCA, Tapanilan Erä (sport organisation), Kalliola Youth (settlement youth), Helsinki Minijellonat (children’s organisation of the Coalition Party), Helsinki Nuoret Kotkat (Young Falcons in Helsinki)

The process of deviancy The role of youth work

Frustration

(Social pressure theory)

Disengagement

(Control theory)

Learning

(Learning theory)

Labelling

(Labelling theory)

Offering rewarding experiences in daily life: self-realisation through young people´s own cultural productions

Providing informal control and social capital: engaging young people as active participants in NGOs, youth centres, action groups, net communities etc

Offering an alternative: street work, week end activities, night basket ball

Seeing youth as a resource, not as a problem: combating stereotypic images of youth, providing ”other knowledge”

Lasse Siurala: Non-formal learning and social inclusion. Conference on policy and practiceFor social inclusion of children and young people. Berlin, November 14-16, 2006