Browsing by Author "Tavi, Semi"

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine the perceptions of schoolteachers about the benefits and obstacles of a camp school abroad. Finland has long had a strong camp school culture, but despite the growing emphasis on international education in the national core curriculum for basic education (POPS 2014), not many camp schools have been arranged abroad. In the dissertation I open the concept of a camp school and related themes of global education, intercultural competence and experiential pedagogy. The study is a qualitative case study guided by the following research questions: What perceptions and experiences do teachers have about the benefits of a camp school abroad? What obstacles do teachers see for camp school abroad? The material was collected through e-mail interviews from ten teachers, five of whom had previously attended a camp school abroad. The interviews have been analyzed using data-driven content analysis. Based on the results, teachers’ perceptions of the benefits of a foreign camp school were divided into five main categories: academic skills, practical life skills, internationality, experientiality, and future-related skills. Teachers’ perceptions of barriers to a foreign camp school were divided into two main categories: fears and practical challenges.