The aim was to find models for developing the school's operating culture so that students would have tools for influencing the everyday life of the school and identifying their own opportunities to influence. In addition to community involvement, the activities aimed to strengthen the safety and healthiness of the study environment and reduce the risk of social exclusion. At the same time, tools would be provided for the development of the school environment from the perspective of sustainable development. By combining new and existing operating models, we hoped to achieve sustainable practices that would help both students and teachers to cope with their work, identify factors that threaten well-being and increase the sense of community. The development of international competence and language skills were also our goals.
The coping of students and teachers has been put to the test for several years due to factors such as corona, curriculum reforms, and pressures from higher education choices. This has been reflected in general exhaustion both in studies and in the work of teachers. Based on their own experience, students have not had enough information, models or coping about influencing their own study conditions and the school's operating culture. Student union activities have been left to the shoulders of a few, which is why they have not been able to develop in the desired way in recent years. The new school building, which was completed a couple of years ago, provides a framework for new kinds of activities, but there is no enthusiasm for the development work, mainly for the reasons described above. Another challenge is the remote location of Haapavesi Upper Secondary School, outside the highways. Internationality and multiculturalism are not visible in the everyday lives of upper secondary school students, and the socio-economic backgrounds of families vary greatly. This places young people in an unequal position from the point of view of international activities and adds challenges to the development of the school's operating culture.