Finland Develops Learning Environments and Methods in Urban Green

In 2023, the Finnish Centre of Vocational Excellence continued developing a sustainable skills ecosystem for urban greening. Much was achieved through local and international cooperation. Here we highlight three of the most important results from last year.

Last year, Team Finland continued to work towards the goals of the European Platform for Urban Greening project. We organized trainings and courses, enabled mobility learning for students and teachers with exchanges abroad, raised awareness about local meadow species and traditional biotopes and their maintenance, among other things. We also developed an accessible and diverse learning environment for the green sector.

Here are Finland’s top 3 actions from last year:

1. The International Urban Greening Week

Organizing and hosting the European Platform for Urban Greening’s first International Urban Greening Week, together with partner hosts in the Netherlands, we welcomed 17 students from the Netherlands, Denmark and Czech Republic to take part in a two-week, cooperative challenge-based learning experience.

The students were amazed and enchanted by Finland’s nature, open spaces and silence. In addition, they gained a new experience of an intensive two-week exchange and a lot of new elements for their professional growth path.

Watch the aftermovie here and jump into the spirit of the exchange weeks!

2. The Virtual Learning Environment for Vertical Green

In the European Platform for Urban Greening project, we are developing horticulture education to meet the needs of the future. In that case we have been gathering innovative ideas and working on a virtual 360-learning environment on a Wonda platform.

Read more about the virtual learning here.

3. Short Courses and Flexible Learning

Last year we piloted short courses and one-day courses. The themes of these trainings included soil food web, stream water management and edible forest garden. Offering very specific subjects has proved to be popular with professionals and students to stay up-to-date with the latest research and best practices in the sector.

Read more about the last year highlights here!