Children’s summer camp as a multi-professional learning environment
Keywords:
children’s camp, Estonian Union for Child Welfare, nursing students, social service studentsAbstract
Savonia University of Applied Sciences has collaborated with Estonian Union for Child Welfare (Lastekaitse Liit) from the Year 1999. Every summer a week-long Summer Camp located in Remniku, Estonia is held in co-operation. During the camp a multi-professional student group consisting primarily from social service and nursing students organises camp activities with local camp counselors. A comprehensive theme for the camp is community, consisting both of campers and students. Students learn to appreciate and understand different cultures and get prepared to meet people from different cultures. Students learn to work in multicultural and multi-professional groups. During the camp students learn to develop their skills and sensitivity in working with children and their instructors coming from different life situations. Students learn to use inclusive and empowering work methods and establish community-fortifying skills while learning also counseling skills. The theoretical starting point for learning processes at the camp is a sosioconstructive frame with a contextual learning perception. According to the contextual learning perception, learning happens best in the environment where learned information is used. This means following the principle of learning by doing.
In other words, the students will gain access to a multi-professional and multicultural learning environment during the camp.
