A week in Arctic Finland

A week in Arctic Finland

I have just come back from a week in Arctic Finland, at the Oivanki Youth Centre, where there is just 3 hours of actual daylight and lots of snow, this time of year. I was taking part in an Erasmus+ project investigating and sharing knowledge around Developing Adventure Educational Camps in the Far North.

 

UK’s presentation during Intercultural evening

The project enabled individuals to come from all over Europe, sharing their practices from the organisations they work with. Being in the company of such a wide range of individuals, has energised me to build into my work models and knowledge shared. I am aiming to use the adventure models shared at the conference in my teaching of a module at the University of Derby on Adventurous Journeys. The models on developing a process for delivering adventure, will aid the students to build their own adventurous journey and the reflective process in the reviewing of their journey.

 

An image of a true Finnish winter

During the week we used the environment around the centre for reflective walks and leisure activities, such as skiing, curling, dog sledding, and ice- fishing. The evenings were used to explore the different cultures of the countries, with the sauna and ice hole dip becoming a main stay of the evenings. In all the winter weather and dark days was an amazing background to explore the topics of Adventure Education Camps in the Far North.

By Pete Gilliver, Senior Lecturer, University of Derby

Developing Educational Adventure Camps in Northern Finland

Developing Educational Adventure Camps in Northern Finland

From 12th to 18th December Olga will be attending a training course in Oivanki in the very north of Finland. Participants will share good practice and develop their knowledge of what makes a good outdoor learning experience for young people. Other countries taking part are Slovenia, Hungary, Ukraine, Germany, Portugal and Finland. Whist there Olga will be posting to our Instagram account. Follow her adventure here. She will be hoping to see the Northern Lights and also to catch a glimpse of a certain bearded gentleman in red… 
Time for Tea goes online

Time for Tea goes online

Two weeks ago we held our first online Time for Tea training course which saw participants come together from Poland, Spain, Italy, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, India and the UK. The course began with everyone completing an “About Me” booklet and making a one minute selfie video to introduce their favourite tea cup. From there they went on to learn how to create their own Time for Tea project and finished with a visit to our virtual teahouse. Another success to come out of what has been an unusual year!