This presentation has been made in cooperation with Finnish social media experts from Finnish National Board of Education, Omnia - The Joint Authority of Education in Espoo Region, Haaga-Helia School of Vocational Teacher Education, HAMK School of Vocational Teacher Education and Kainuu Vocational School.

1. From good practices to strategic development:
Social media in vocational education and training (VET)
in Finland
Pauliina Venho, Aike Oy

2. Vocational education faces
the cultural changes of working life
• VET organizations are facing the same cultural change within the working and learning
culture as the organizations and enterprises they are cooperating with: we are moving from
industrial structures towards human and solution centered economy.
• The meaning of time and place will be different in the future. There are more flexible and
economic ways of working and learning when tools and operational processes are enabled.
• The development and regeneration of educational organizations and working life are strongly
tied up together and should not be examined separately.
• Vocational education and training has a chance to be seen as a forerunner of this cultural
change both nationally and internationally.
Pauliina Venho, Aike Oy

3. Social media in VET
One of the future forms of working is social media which promotes and answers to the changes in
the working culture .
In VET organizations social media can be seen in several point of views which are:
• Teaching and learning
• Management of educational organization
• Marketing
• Internal and external communication
• Research and development (projects)
• Networking and benchmarking
• Rationalization of working methods
Pauliina Venho, Aike Oy

4. Social media in VET
Current challenges in Finland:
• Social media is not comprehensively integrated in VET organizations’ strategies and activities
• The personnel and management of VET organizations have a lot of open questions and
prejudices concerning social media
• Management of change resulting from the change of working culture has not yet reached
VET organizations
• The development of new practices is depending on single educators and project workers,
lacking a strategic point of view
• The border conditions of functional environment place limits: tools (computers, mobile
phones) are not being modernized
• Experts are using a professional language which is not understandable for beginners
• Lack of scientific research
• Lack of estimating financial benefits that can be remarkable
• There are a lot of good practices, which by sharing them can lead us a major step towards
modern working culture
• We do not have a whole picture of what is happening internationally in social media in VET
Pauliina Venho, Aike Oy

5. Social media
From good practices to strategic development
We need an international cooperation which aims at:
• Starting and creating an international innovator network that follows the
development of social media in VET and
• Creating and spreading patterns of social media in vocational education and
training.
And national actions aiming at:
• Developing readiness of different groups of personnel in VET organizations for using social
media in their work thus advancing a strategic and comprehensive integration of social media
in VET organizations.
Pauliina Venho, Aike Oy

6. Social media in VET:
From good practices to strategic development
International cooperation
• Starting and creating an international innovator network which follows the
development of social media in VET
– Gathering national experts on social media in VET to the same forum. These people should be
representing VET organizations, vocational teacher education units, universities and public
authorities.
– Creating an international innovator network consisting of social media experts, educators,
developers and researchers in various countries and inviting them to the shared forum.
• Creating and spreading patterns of social media in vocational education and
training
– Following social media in VET from the versatile point of views.
– Arranging international benchmarking meetings, which can also be virtual.
– Developing, spreading and visioning the future patterns, applications and tools of social media in
vocational education and training.
Pauliina Venho, Aike Oy

7. Social media in VET:
From good practices to strategic development
International cooperation
• Aike Oy is interested in building an international network of social media experts in vocational
education and training to promote the change and development of working life. If you have
good practices and expertise, do not hesitate contacting us.
The task of AIKE Oy, part of the The Finnish Association for Vocational Adult Education and Training, is to promote vocational adult education
through various development projects.
The Finnish Association for Vocational Adult Education and Training, founded in 1972, is the cooperation body of the 44 Finnish vocational
adult education centres. The association aims to improve the professional competence of the working-age population, increasing the
possibilities for studies based on the adults' own choices, and supporting the entrepreneurship in cooperation with the economic life. The
association emphasizes the importance of high proficiency, credibility, innovation capacity and environmental sensibility.
Customer groups are the labour and education administration, economic life and the citizens educating themselves. Training is organized
either as staff development training purchased by enterprises, employment training provided by the labour administration, vocational basic
education, training aiming at vocational qualifications, self-motivated vocational supplementary training and apprenticeship training funded
partly or completely by education administration.
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN FINLAND:
http://www.oph.fi/english/education/vocational_upper_secondary_education_and_training
http://www.oph.fi/english/education/adult_education/vocational_adult_education
http://www.aike.fi/eng/aike_group/
http://twitter.com/PauliinaVenho
Pauliina Venho, Aike Oy