“Our mission is to bring the outside world into the classroom. We help schools change by creating innovative concepts that enhance creativity, curiosity and co-operation” says Saku Tuominen, creative director of SCOOL. “We test these concepts in Finland, which has one of the best performing educational systems in the world, and then scale them up globally.”
”Even though we love new technology and online learning, our starting point is always listening to the teachers and empowering them,” says Tuominen.
SanomaVentures, the external venturing arm of the European media and learning company Sanoma, has decided to make a strategic investment in SCOOL. “We are constantly looking for new, innovative learning concepts and solutions to improve learning outcomes, motivate pupils and help teachers to excel in their job. We have been very impressed with the SCOOL´s fresh approach, which combines educational know-how with deep understanding of the 21st century skills,” says Jyri Ahti, Vice President M&A and Public Affairs at Sanoma Learning.
Two examples of the formats created by SCOOL are Campus and Dreamdo Schools.
Campus helps teachers understand how the world is changing outside of school (from climate to robotics, from Ebola to economy). Campus consists of seminars, change reports, online lectures and teacher awards. Campus seminars have taken place in Finland and in Poland. All five events have been sold out and videos from the seminars have received over 50,000 views from schools. This year, in addition to Helsinki and Warsaw, Campus seminars will be organised in Atlanta, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Vilnius.
Dreamdo Schools is an educational program and a digital platform in which school classes all over the world commit to doing great student-led projects within one semester and share it with the world. The pilot season has started across four continents, in 24 countries.