EPALE Finland aims to enhance awareness of the platform in Finland and bolster the engagement of adult learning professionals in fostering the EPALE community. Additionally, the goal is to ensure that the platform's content remains high-quality and relevant to stakeholders. EPALE Finland actively encourages experts in the field to share their expertise and best practices through articles on the platform.

In addition to blogs, news, and resources, the platform features an event calendar where registered users can promote their own events, courses, and lectures. Alongside user-submitted events, the calendar also includes information about events organized by EPALE.

EPALE Finland collaborates closely with the Finnish Erasmus+ Adult Education team. All adult education applicants and beneficiaries are encouraged to use EPALE throughout the entire project lifecycle — for networking, finding project partners, and sharing results and good practices.

Join the community of adult learning professionals!

The Finnish EPALE team works in the Finnish National Agency for Education's Internationalisation services for general education and adult education. The members of our team are:

Project management:

Johanna Tarvainen, Senior Specialist, johanna.tarvainen@oph.fi

Communications:

Alma Smolander, Specialist, alma.smolander@oph.fi

You can contact us also at epale@oph.fi

Adult education — such as courses offered by liberal adult education institutions, staff training, and labour market training — is widely available across Finland. Adults also engage in significant learning in workplaces, as well as in various everyday and leisure contexts.

Adult learning is provided by, for example:

• Liberal adult education institutions (such as adult education centers, folk high schools, summer universities, study centers, and sports institutes)
• Organisations offering basic and general upper secondary education for adults
• Vocational adult education centres
• Universities of applied sciences and universities
• Various organisations and associations

Libraries, museums, and prisons also play an active role in adult education.

The goal of adult learning is to foster active citizenship and promote lifelong learning. It also aims to enhance employability, support longer working careers, and promote multicultural understanding.

More information about the Finnish adult education system is available in the Eurydice database: 

Adult education and training

Stakeholders

Key partners and stakeholders of EPALE Finland include, for example:

Authorities:

• Ministry of Education and Culture
• Ministry of Employment and the Economy
• Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
• Criminal Sanctions Agency   

National umbrella organisations and NGOs of adult learning

• Accosiation of Study Centres   

• Association of the Development of Vocational Education and Training

• Bildningsalliansen

• Finnish Adult Education Association (only in Finnish)                               

• Finnish Association of Adult Education Centres

• Finnish Folk High School Association                                                                         

• Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation 

• Finnish Society for Research on Adult Education

• Summer Universities in Finland (only in Finnish)                    

• Trade Union of Education in Finland         

Adult Education research and studies

• ​​​University of Helsinki
• University of Turku
• University of Jyväskylä
• University of Tampere
• University of Eastern Finland
• University of Lapland

In addition to the national stakeholders, the EPALE Finland works closely with some Nordic and European networks such as NLL, ELM Magazine, and RIA Network (Research Based Impact analysis of Erasmus+ Adult Education, Erasmus+ LTA-activity coordinated by BIBB, DE).