Student Union's statement: The transfer of Turun normaalikoulu School to Educarium
The Student Union thanks for the opportunity to give a statement about the transfer of Turun normaalikoulu School to Educarium. Seeking savings in the university's current financial situation is understandable, and the Student Union sees that saving on facility costs is a less harmful solution compared to saving for example on personnel costs. There is, however, still significant challenges concerning the transfer of the school to Educarium premises which require careful planning to be solved. It is also important that the entire university community is strongly involved in planning the university’s use of the facilities in the future. The community must be involved in the planning for the facilities of the Lower Campus area, planning required for the temporary facilities needed during the Educarium renovations, and planning for the future of use of university facilities in general. Separate community allocated budget reserved for the development of facilities, that has been tried at the University of Tampere, could be considered for testing in Turku as well.
The Student Union wants to draw attention to the role and responsibility of the university as a social actor: changes in the city's school network have effects to the development of neighborhoods. In addition, teacher students must still have good opportunities to gain experience in teaching in linguistically and culturally diverse communities. We would also like to point out that although the whole effort has been put into the preparation through the work of two working groups, the spring-long schedule, however, was really tight one for discussing the issue.
In this statement, we pay more attention to the following topics: Teaching planning and facilities, and Student organizations and services on campus.
Teaching planning and facilities
The effects of squeezing up the use of different facilities for the daily fluent studying and working on campuses must be considered when organizing teaching. Accessibility must be taken into account: for example, transitions between different campuses must be physically and time-wise smooth, also for people with reduced mobility. When renovating the facilities, a key starting point must be accessibility. In addition, there is a risk of an increase in teaching in the evenings and the risk of the study day prolonging too much must be taken seriously. Students do not have, for example because of working, equal opportunities to study in the evening.
Campuses should have a variety of both individual and group study spaces that support the diversity of teaching methods, where individual learners’ needs are taken into account. Securing these spaces, especially when the Educarium library spaces are removed, is critical. The availability of these spaces must also be considered in the library's own facilities planning. Campuses must have 24-hour physical facilities and facilities that support ergonomic distance learning. Space must also be reserved for electronic exams on the Lower campus. Teaching facilities could be opened for free use by students and researchers, when there is no teaching. If the School is moved to the Lower Campus, the adequacy of both the special facilities for teaching and the study facilities of the university in general, needs to be considered when both university and school students need to use these facilities.
Campuses must be attractive places to work even after the amount of facilities have been reduced. The facilities play a significant role in the daily meeting and availability of teachers, students and colleagues, as well as information flow and learning from colleagues. From the point of view of well-being at work, it is essential that the use of the premises is planned in such a way that for example noise impacts will not increase and workplace well-being would therefore be compromised. There should also be an opportunity on campus for teacher students to be free from the role of a teacher, so that there would not be a requirement to constantly maintain a dual role of a teacher and a student.
Student organizations and services on campus
The organizations that currently use university facilities must continue to have organizational facilities at their use after the changes. Student organizations are an irreplaceable part of students' everyday life. Organizational activity enhances the sense of community and enables new learning. Student organizations should not be moved to any space available: the spaces must be suitable for organizational activities. Organizations must be consulted actively and as early as possible in all the changes concerning them. Coordinating space use between student events and everyday school life has its own challenges that a joint planning is also needed to solve.
The Student Union agrees with the students' concern about the adequacy of CampusSport's facilities. It is absolutely important that students continue to have the opportunity to exercise on campuses. University students' health and well-being research (KOTT 2021) states that already more than half of university students exercise too little according to healthy physical exercise recommendations. Exercise facilities and their usage times should be reduced as little as possible and they must continue to be suitable for various forms of exercise.
Every student must have enough time per day for meals. Educarium cafeteria must not be limited only to school use, but at least a two-stage timetable should be considered for the two different user groups: for example, so that meals would be reserved for schoolchildren until 12 o'clock, after which the cafeteria would be open for others.
In terms of the safety of the Educarium area, the precise demarcation of the school grounds, control of access rights especially in Educarium and Publicum, and improved directing of car traffic in a safe manner are key issues. The whole area could be developed at the same time for example with investments in green construction and bicycle parking.
In Turku 31st of May 2024
Katie Astin
chair of the executive board
Student Union of the University of Turku
Petra Peltonen
secretary general
Student Union of the University of Turku