I did my Erasmus teacher
exchange at Hogeschool Rotterdam from April 10 to 16th, 2013. During the first two
days of my visit I took part in the INVEST project meeting and had a
possibility to participate in workshops and interesting visits.
We had great discussions about how to encourage volunteer workers, what
kind of funding possibilities there exist and how we can create more
networks in Europe. It was also a really eye opening experience to see how
much voluntary work is done in the Netherlands
and what a large impact it has on the whole society.
On Thursday I also had my own lessons with two different student groups. The content of my first lesson was about the history of Finland and how it currently affects the social situation of Finland. I also
I made a comparison of the situation of
Finland and the Netherlands and heard several
good points of view from the students. The other lesson I had was about
youth policy and a specific youth guarantee in Finland. The students of both groups were very active and the civic
knowledge of them appeared to be of a high level. 
During the
weekend I participated in the "10 KM LOOP" which was part of the Rotterdam
Marathon event. The event itself was a good example of the huge number
of
arrangements which were made in a short time. And mostly done by volunteers.
On the last days of my visit there were professionalisation days for the staff. I was in the group which visited RadarUitvoering. We heard about the new
concepts and plans they have concerning both the financing and managing the
activities. We also met former students of the School of Social Work
and realized how much they have managed
to change their approaches and practices while working for
RadarUitvoering.
Overall, I had a most pleasant
visit in Rotterdam. I heard that several lecturers in the School of
Social Work have been thinking about a visit to Finland during the
next school year. I am looking forward to welcoming guests
from Hogeschool Rotterdam and provide them as fruitful visit in Finland
as possible.
Senior lecturer mr. Juha Makkonen
Humak University of Applied Sciences, Finland
