Koulu School / Demos Helsinki

Koulu School addresses two problems: scarcity of education resources in emergencies, and young people’s frustration and disempowerment facing lack of opportunities to learn and to contribute to the community (No Lost Generation, childrenofsyria.info/download/9702/). Although education is the fourth pillar of humanitarian response, resources for organising it can be scarce leading to short school days, large groups, and overwhelmed teacher resources. (UNHCR, www.unhcr.org/3b8a1ba94.pdf)

Koulu School is a tested peer-to-peer teaching model for youth that consists of skill discovery and learning the basic pedagogical skills for turning these skills into an engaging lesson. It engages youth to support the delivery of quality education, creates opportunities for civic engagement, and strengthens psychosocial well-being. It can be utilized to support formal education and to create after-school activities. In its core is a simple method of training basic teaching skills to anyone, based on Finnish education expertise. The training lasts a few hours a day over a few days. In the end, new peer teachers teach their lessons to the community members. The pilots have been praised both by youth and teachers. The model also includes Training of Trainers and Impact Measurement. The aimed impact is to: 1) Ensure quality learning: Through learning to teach a lesson, youth take more responsibility for their own as well as the shared learning in classroom. This brings in the resources of the community to support the burdened teachers. 2) Strengthen psychosocial wellbeing: Teaching and supporting their peers is an opportunity for youth to contribute positively to the community. This instills dignity, sense of normalcy and joy. The skill discovery in peer teacher training also enables creating study and hobby groups outside formal school led by youth. Encouraged by the first tests in EiE context we want to design a service that scales