News
During major sporting events around the world the children of athletes and event employees are often absent from school and so The Finnish PopUp School, a concept developed in Finland, came to be. The idea is simple: temporary schools are assembled at the sporting events to enable children to gain access to education while travelling.
The idea was conceived at the 2014 Basketball World Championships in Spain, an event attended by 10 000 Finnish adults and 1000 children.
“I quickly realised that during the day the children had nothing to do - a school would have been the solution to this. I presented the idea of having a pop-up school at sporting events to the Finnish Basketball Association and the idea was received well, followed by trialing the first pop-up school in Montpellier”, says Harri Hollo, former teacher and marketing director at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Finland.
The Finnish PopUp School will be set up at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for three days. Anyone can attend the school - local children, children of athletes or even children of tourists. The current capacity of the school is fifty students.
“The Finnish PopUp School promotes the ethical and educational philosophies of the Olympic Academy with themes such as respect, tolerance and friendship. The active PBL classes are inspired by The Finnish Schools on the Move programme,” Hollo elaborates.
The classes are held in English and in French. The versatile teaching methods and great use of technology are a natural part of the school’s operations. Students are encouraged to set personalised goals for themselves and each student’s starting level is taken into account in teaching.
The PopUp School will be taught by Harri Hollo, Salla Leinonen, Tytti Heikkinen, Annette Ruti, Petri Haapanen and Laura Suonranta.
"The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro have now officially begun and we at the PopUp School have been doing our best in preparing for the upcoming journey to Brazil - we recently finished developing our Claned-platform. In addition we familiarized ourselves with the Mightifier-application, reviewed our lesson plans for the three days we will be teaching at the PopUp School, tried on our Team Finland outfits and crafted tote bags for the students," reports Salla Leinonen, Principal of the Eestinkallio School in Espoo, Finland.
In the future the aim is to create more international activity in schools with the idea of integrating athletics and the philosophies of the Olympic Academy into learning and potentially set up five to fifteen pop-up schools a year.
For more follow this amazing journey and the progression of the concept by visiting the PopUp School's project pages.
May the games begin!