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Vocational Qualification in Education and Guidance

A vocational qualification in education and guidance prepares you to work in different education, guidance, planning or assistance tasks as either a children’s instructor or a youth and community instructor. Depending on the chosen competence area, your studies will focus on working with children, young people or adults. Positivity, creativity and bravery, good communication and interaction skills as well as responsibility and reliability are needed in the field of education and guidance.

Opettaja ja opiskelijat katsovat valkotaululta ryhmätyötä.

Children’s instructor and youth and community instructor

Do you like working with children? Are you creative and do you have good interaction skills? As a children’s instructor, you can be part of promoting the comprehensive well-being of children in, for example, a day-care centre. Are you courageous, inspiring and natural within group work? As a youth and community instructor, you can utilise your own areas of interest, creativity and special competence when guiding different people and groups.

Competence area in early childhood education and family welfare: children’s instructor

As a children’s instructor, you work in tasks related to education and guidance and care for a child’s comprehensive well-being. You will instruct children of various ages and work together with the parents. You can utilise your own areas of interest and creativity. Expressive working methods, such as music, physical activity and handicrafts, are an important part of the work of a children’s instructor. The employment situation for children’s instructors is good.

You will work in different tasks in early childhood education, such as a childcarer in early childhood education and care or as a child educator in a parish’s early childhood education and family work. You can study to become a children’s instructor at all our campus locations as well as in other cities, such as Helsinki, Kuopio and Tampere.

Composition of the qualification, children’s educator

Compulsory units of the qualification

  • Professional encounters, education and instruction
  • Promoting the growth, wellbeing and learning of children
  • Implementation of pedagogical activity in early childhood education and care

Compulsory optional units of the qualification

  • Working with families and cross-sectoral cooperation OR
  • Working with families and cross-sectoral cooperation in the working environment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

Optional units of the qualification

  • Instructing volunteer and organisational activities
  • Instructing activities for the elderly
  • Instructing methods of expression
  • Instructing physical activities
  • Instructing nature and experience activities
  • Instructing persons in need of support

Common units of the qualification

• Communication and interaction competence
• Mathematics and science competence
• Citizenship and working life competence

Competence area in youth and community instruction: youth and community instructor

As a youth and community instructor, you will instruct people of different ages and backgrounds as individuals and in groups. You can utilise your own areas of interest, creativity and special competence in the fields of physical activity, nature and experience activity, culture, media and online instruction, information and counselling services for young people or handicrafts, among others.

You may work in tasks in municipal youth work, child welfare, projects, after school activities, targeted youth work, instructing the elderly and activity instructor as well as in different tasks in civic and organisational activity.

You can study to become a youth and community instructor at all our campus locations as well as in other cities, such as Helsinki, Kuopio and Tampere.

Composition of the qualification, youth and community instructor

Compulsory units of the qualification

  • Professional encounters, education and instruction
  • Instruction of the individual, groups and community
  • Promoting the growth and wellbeing of young people
  • Support and social empowerment for inclusion

Optional units of the qualification

  • Instructing volunteer and organisational activities
  • Instructing activities for the elderly
  • Instructing methods of expression
  • Instructing physical activities
  • Instructing nature and experience activities
  • Instructing persons in need of support

Common units of the qualification

  • Communication and interaction competence
  • Mathematics and science competence
  • Citizenship and working life competence

Read more about completing a qualification and acquiring competence.

Application

There is a rolling admission procedure (link to Finnish page) for this qualification programme. Check out the information concerning our upcoming programmes (link to Finnish page).

The joint application system every spring is for those who have completed comprehensive school, upper secondary school and anyone who has not already earned a vocational qualification.  The academic year for those selected through this system begins in August. The date of the joint application round in the spring is different each year; more information can be found on the  Studyinfo.fi site. 

Applicants will be invited to take part in a selection day that is free of charge.

Apply by Finest Future Program

Costs

The qualification programme is free for the student

Higher education

A vocational qualification confers a general eligibility for higher education studies in universities and universities of applied sciences.

Student dormitory

Our campuses have their own student dormitories. The rooms are generally two-person rooms and they are primarily intended to house those students who live far away or for whom commuting is difficult. More information about the housing (in Finnish)

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Järvenpää

Pieksämäki

Ask for more information about apprenticeship training