Policy vs. practice: An analysis of the course provision of Finnish study centres between 2016 and 2021

With 500,000 participants, study centres are the second largest liberal adult education organisation in Finland. In this study, we analysed how study centres’ course provision matches the policy objectives defined in the Finnish law on liberal adult education (lifelong learning, well-being, active citizenship, democracy, and civil society). Programme analysis was used to analyse the course provision (n = 77,655 courses) between 2016 and 2021. We identified 43 course types and six course categories. Most of the courses fulfilled the policy objectives set for study centres. The largest single course category was Personal Growth (39.6%), which comprised liberal arts courses that promoted lifelong learning and well-being. Active citizenship, democracy, and civil society were supported by two course categories: Citizenship & Associations (29.9%) and Social & Community Support (11.1%), which accounted for 41.0% of the provided courses. Our results showed the central role of study centres as the main organisers of citizenship and community education in Finland. This study is the first to provide a detailed description of course provision at Finnish study centres. It also revealed that official statistics do not accurately portray the diverse course provision at study centres because they are based on course topics aligned with formal education.