Information for students

When you enrol on a course you agree to abide by the following policies that aim to create solid grounds for adult education courses and to promote general satisfaction, safety, eagerness to study and good manners:

• You come to classes on time and in accordance with the instructions given by the teacher.
• When the lesson ends you tidy up your own seat and the class room.
• All students have a right to a safe studying environment, and therefore you conduct yourself in a friendly and considerate manner without bullying anyone.
• It is forbidden to disturb the teaching or act in an inappropriate manner.
• Threatening and violent behaviour are forbidden.
• Use of alcohol or other intoxicating substances and being under the influence of such substances is forbidden. Any instances of narcotics are always reported to the police.
• The students are obliged to immediately report any detected instances of bullying, disturbance or violence to the teacher or other member of the staff.
• Smoking and the use of other tobacco products within the school premises is forbidden.
• The Institute’s property must be handled with care. Any damage to the property must be reported to the teacher or other member of the staff.
• The students are reliable for any damage they intentionally cause.
• The course fees must be paid by due date.

Any breach of these policies may result in withholding the right to participate on courses.

The year at the Adult Education Centre consists of two semesters: the autumn semester from 01.08. to 31.12. and the spring semester from 01.01. to 31.07. Courses start through the academic year. Information about the start and end of the courses is provided for each course at ilmonet.fi

The duration of the course is generally specified in the number of classes. The duration of one class is 45 minutes.

Holidays and days off at the Adult Education Centre

During the winter holiday week (week 8) and autumn holiday week (week 42) the teaching is not carried out (exceptions are specified in the information on the course). No teaching is carried on the following days as well:

• All Saints’ Day
• Independence Day
• Holy Thursday
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• May Day eve
• May Day
• Ascension Day

No teaching is generally carried out on the eves of the holidays as some of the teaching locations are closed at that time. You can check the teaching sessions of the course via the ilmonet.fi service or our customer support.

Highlighting knowhow – what is a study-credit course?

Learning takes place in all adult education center's courses. Traditionally, adult education center has only given course-participation certificates without no grading of what has been learned. Present society is, however, based on lifelong learning, and to make knowhow visible, it has been deemed to be necessary to also recognize educational qualifications acquired in adult education center’s courses. Adult education centers have conducted study-credit courses as of fall 2021.

Adult education center’s operations continue as before: everybody can enroll in the courses they desire and themselves decide on the goal-orientedness of their participation. Some of the courses will never turn into study-credit courses. The freedom of adult education center’s studies will remain in the future as well.

What does recognition of educational qualifications mean with regard to adult education center's courses?

Our selection of courses will also have more goal-oriented courses in the future. These courses clearly define the learning goals and—with the exception of purely basic courses—the issues that must be mastered before joining the course. For example, if you have never used a sewing machine, you should find a basic course teaching how to use one instead of going to a course whose description states that the participants must be familiar with sewing machines; using them will not be taught in the course. As regards language courses: if you have not studied the basics of the language in question, there is no point for you to take an extension course.

You do not have to perform study credits in a study-credit course

Anybody can enroll in a study-credit course, but you do not have to perform any study credits. Students that perform study credits and those who do not may participate in the same course. Common to all the participants is, however, that the course teaches all the issues specified in the learning goals. Also such skills that the course description states the students must master before attending the course apply to all the students. These skills will not be taught to any of the students during the course.

If you do not wish to collect study credits but are interested in more goal-oriented studying, you are welcome to participate in the course. At the beginning of the course, all participants can still decide whether they want to perform study credits or not. An official consent to the performance will be made, but you can revoke your consent during the course if you change your mind.

How does a study-credit course progress?

A study-credit course is similar to other courses, but it has a more detailed program and goals. At the beginning of the course, the teacher will introduce the assessment criteria; that is, what and how well you must master the matters in order to get an accepted performance regarding the course. An essential change compared to an ordinary course is that in a study-credit course the teacher assesses more your knowhow and gives you feedback on it.

Knowhow must be documented, and you can do this, for instance, by keeping a learning diary with the teacher in a manner together agreed, by assessed partial tasks during the course, or by another way agreed together with the teacher. Most important is that—during or after the course—you can verify that you have learned the matters defined in the course’s learning goals. The assessment criteria define the level on which you must master the matters, so that your course performance can be approved.

Study credit signifies the extent of the course

One study credit corresponds to 27 hours of studying. This includes the lessons during the course, as well as the time you spend at home, for example, on performing tasks, documenting what you have learned, reading, or any time you spend to achieve knowhow. A study credit does not, in other words, correspond to any absolutely accurate number of hours.

Study path and certificate

Did you know that logging with your bank identifiers in the Oma opintopolku (My Studyinfo) on the opintopolku.fi (StudyInfo) you can browse your studies? As far as younger people are concerned, all their official education can be seen there, whereas not all older degrees are (yet) available there. Due to the legislative amendment, data on adult education center’s study-credit courses will also be transferred to the Koski database. The consent you gave at the beginning of the course makes it possible to transfer the data also to StudyInfo, but you can also forbid the data transfer.

The adult education center will give you a certificate that you can use, for example, if you have to prove your knowhow to an employer, for instance. The certificate can also be used to show your knowhow in other studies, but it is always the receiving educational institution's decision whether it will recognize your course, for example, as part of a more extensive degree or not.