Yrityskylä: Young Finnish Learners Experience Life in the Workplace
Colin Graham interviews Elin, a pupil at the Finnish International School of Tampere, about Yrityskylä.
Background
Over the last half century Finland’s economy has transformed from agriculture, forestry, mineral extraction and heavy industry towards technology-driven knowledge industries, accompanied by rapid urbanisation (85% urban by 2018). Innovation is both a national value and an economic practice (e.g. Nokia electronics and telecommunications), and research and development spending is a high percentage of GDP. Finland is near the top of World Economic Forum rankings for global competitiveness and preparedness for change, with extensive welfare systems. In 2024 Finland topped the United Nation’s World Happiness ranking for the seventh time in a row.
In the 1970’s a comprehensive Finnish education system was created with the mission of equal educational opportunities for all. Power and responsibility were delegated to teachers, schools and municipalities within which they are located. In the noughties Finland’s education system became the highest performing amongst OECD countries. Equity is a strong theme in Finnish society, within which teaching is one of the most highly respected professions. As a result, competition to join highly regarded teacher education and training masters courses has been fierce. External, national-standardised high-stakes assessment takes place only at matriculation (age 18), prior to which pupil assessment is largely devised and implemented by teachers. Despite a recent decline in PISA scores currently being researched (6th in reading and 16th in maths in 2018), thought to relate to wider challenges of learning the Finnish language amongst the growing immigrant population, Finland remains ranked as a leading OECD country. Government retains a focus on teacher development and innovation to achieve improvements.
Finland: Educating the Whole Child: AQi.org.uk. October 3, 2021
What is Yrityskylä?
Yrityskylä is an innovative Finnish learning module undertaken by level 6 pupils (age~12-13) and again three years later at level 9, in which they learn about working life – finances, entrepreneurship and how society functions. A literal translation of Yrityskylä is ‘business village’. These are the first early steps for young learners towards their future working lives and their growth as contributing members of society. It comprises ten sessions held at school leading to the highlight of an exciting day in the workplace. During this module, sixth graders learn about how Finnish society functions, get to practice voting, learn basic concepts of the economy and practice their own use of money. They create their own job applications, practice preparing for a job interview and work for a day in their own chosen profession as employees of real companies or other employers. They receive a salary for their work, which is also used for paying taxes. For the day, they also get a bank card onto which they are paid in credit to spend at the student-led café, to practice responsible spending in a miniature society. Yrityskylä Day is usually an eagerly awaited highlight of the school year.
Entrepreneurship is part of the curriculum for basic education aimed at giving young people skills they can use later in their lives, learning by doing and trying things by and for themselves. They learn to identify their own strengths and weaknesses, and their own paths in society. Yritytskylä strengthens young people’s economic skills and develops their future working life and day-to-day skills. Positive working-life experiences reinforce self-esteem and reduce fears of working life. This is particularly important at a time when a recent report1 has shown that only 53% of Finnish young people are enthusiastic about entering the labour market, down from 82% in 2018.
Professor Colin Graham discussed Yrityskylä as experienced early in 2024 by a 6th grade pupil, Elin (now age 13). Elin is a pupil at the Finnish International School of Tampere, where most teaching is in English, but which in all other respects is the same as any other in the Finnish state school system. Elin previously attended a state primary school in London.
Colin: Hello, Elin, and thank you for talking to us today about Yrityskylä. To begin with, what was the most interesting topic of the preparatory sessions?
Elin: For me, the most interesting topic was when we chose different public services and businesses from our own society; also adding up all the expenses per year.
Colin: So which professions or jobs did you apply for?
Elin: We had to choose three jobs that we were interested in. I chose Martela, which is a company that designs offices. There was also Art Lab, which is a company where you can look at art through VR goggles. The third one was Kylä Cafe, which is a real food café.
Colin: What work tasks did you actually do?
Elin: On the lead up to Yrityskylä day, we learnt about spending money, conducting interviews and working in different professions and businesses. We had to keep track of the timetable. We sold things like chairs. People came into our office to ask to us to design an office with requests such as including a different colour scheme and furniture needs.
Colin: What did you learn about spending and saving money?
Elin: We learned about how businesses make a profit by subtracting expenses from income. We used an example of an ice cream kiosk which has employees, rents space and buys raw materials. We learnt that all businesses have to pay taxes for the use of public services. We had to build our own society on a map, using stickers to show the shops and public services; then we had to work out where tax revenue was coming from and if that money would be enough to pay for the public services. This project created a picture of our own Yrityskylä. We also learned about saving money after we've earned it, so that there's enough for the future and for paying family expenses such as food and goods.
Colin: What did you find challenging about Yrityskylä?
Elin: We learned about running a business by playing an ice cream game in which you would roll the dice to see how the weather would affect the profit. But it was quite confusing and took a while to understand. When I played Monopoly with my family, I realised and understood more about how tax works. A simpler game during Yrityskylä might have helped us to more quickly understand the new ideas, like how tax and businesses work, ways of saving money and concepts like expenses.
Colin: Did you undertake some problem-solving? What problems did you encounter and how did you solve them?
Elin: The hardest problem-solving task was that the timetable was laid out in a way that made it hard for us to manage our time, so we found that by the time we’d finished one project – like selling a chair to a customer – there would be a meeting with other school pupils from different businesses that had already started. We didn’t really manage to solve that one!
Colin: What were the positive outcomes of Yrityskylä? And was it positive overall?
Elin: I was mostly excited about Yrityskylä day itself, where you could experience everything in real life. Yrityskylä took place in Finlayson - a big old factory building from the 1800s in the centre of Tampere2. The space was separated into different cubicles set up to represent all the businesses in our ‘Business Village’. So, in my business, we had a tablet with our timetable on it, and we had to follow it so you would know what things you had to do and at what time they would happen. And so overall it was a lot of fun, and it's something I would definitely want to do again.
Colin: How many students were involved? and how many students worked with each Yrityskylä business?
Elin: Well, the whole Yrityskylä school day involved four classes, so maybe about thirteen in each class. But in each group there were about six pupils, or in some, maybe only three. There were more pupils in the café group.
Colin: This will be of wide interest to learners and teachers in Scotland and beyond. Thank you very much.
You can read more about Yrityskylä at https://nuortennyt.fi/en/yrityskyla/.
Elin (now age 13) is a pupil at the Finnish International School of Tampere, where most teaching is in English. She cycles between home, school and clubs in almost all weather. Her clubs are mostly taught in Finnish and include cello, orchestra, ballet and cross country skiing (or summer ski training). Aside from Yrityskylä, her favourite school subjects include art, home economics, history, biology and crafts where she has made clothes, wood joints and a metal sauna ladle. At home, Elin draws with pencil, watercolour, ink, charcoal, and chocolate.
Ostling B and Lindahl B (2024) Finnish Future Report: Youths worry about fitting into the labour market. Nordic Labour Journal, May 27 2024
Tampere is the principal industrial city in Finland, where a Scot, James Finlayson, was key to establishing it as the ‘smokeless Manchester’ when he pioneered a water-powered textile industry in the 19th century.