What does the education cost?

Semester fee: 1 250€/semester
Equipment deposit: 100€ (will be returned at the end of the year if all school equipment is intact)

Living at school: 210 €/person/month for a shared room and 230 €/person/month for a solo room. The price includes accommodations and meals on school days (breakfast, fika, and lunch Monday-Friday). Rooms with en suite bathrooms and showers cost an extra 20€/month. A supplementary fee of 20€/month is charged for pets.

What does the semester fee include?

The semester fee covers education, travel, accommodation and food during our common overnight trips. Costs not covered by the semester fee include but are not limited to: First Aid course, Lift passes, fishing permits, and renting personal gear.

Benefits:

Students and employees at Kronoby Folk High School may without fee borrow the schools outdoor recreation gear after being educated in its safety and best usage under the condition that the gear is returned in at least the same condition as it was borrowed in.

The school’s programs always have first priority on all the gear. School’s vehicles and trailers are not included. As a student you may, without extra cost, participate in the school’s short courses as time allows. The civic institute’s presentations are also free.

Equipment costs:

During the education you will need personal gear such as clothing, a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, back pack, alpine touring equipment (skis/splitboard, skins, poles, etc.), hiking boots, etc. If you do not have most of this equipment then you should count on a cost of 1000 – 1800€.

Financial support:

* study grant 250 €
* housing supplement 89 €
Search for your support possibilities at Kela’s pages

As a student at a folk high school you can apply for academic financial support for secondary education. In some cases your parents income affect the size of the academic financial support.

Link to the online application.

A journey with us

It’s possible to define terms like leadership, group processes, the outdoors, etc. with a couple well chosen words that sound philosophical, deep and are more or less meaningless. We want to make these theories into real tools that have practical uses. We focus on thinking though how we do things, why they are done that way and where that leads. Reflecting and processing are valuable tools at Outdoor Academy. We challenge our students to leave their comfort zones on many levels to meet what the individual, the group and the activity invite. Here follows a selection of the qualities our experience has shown us to be most important when educating within outdoor education.

Our responsibility is to tailor the challenges to meet your experience. We as educators can teach you very little, as much as we would like to teach you everything we know. You must be able to teach yourself, to which end our education is built on the grounds that we as educators take responsibility for creating the best possible environment for you to teach yourself. That means that we make sure the water is warm enough when you practice rolling a kayak and cold enough when you learn about ice safety. However you are the one who rolls the kayak and steps through the ice. We are with you as you learn to provide a safe environment where you can dare to challenge yourself.

What truly creates the best environment for your understanding of yourself and others lies in the group you are a part of. We have seen this time and time again. Here’s a hot tip for an exercise in character: Gather a group of adults to the Nordic countries who will travel approximately 20 000 km a year by minibus, let them live for a while in tiny huts in the fells or, even better, out in tents. Let them help one another pull gear sleds on ski trips, argue about which way the map should point, learn to like each other’s favorite foods, recognize one another by how they smell, and share the last piece of chocolate.

You who choose to go the first year here are 18 years of age and know how to swim. You have a passion for the outdoors and don’t hesitate to sleep outside for many nights at a time, even if you don’t get a shower every morning. You are also interested in getting to know your classmates, and willing to engage in new challenges almost every day. You must also be prepared to sit xx number of hours in a minibus in order to come along on our trips throughout the Nordic countries.

To get the most out of the year you must actively take advantage of the many possibilities offered. Then you will have a fun gap year and/or a good base of outdoor knowledge to continue with the next year.

You who stay to study for the second year are a person who is passionate about and wants to work with people and the outdoors. You apply yourself thoroughly to actively being a part of trip planning, leadership, decision making, evaluations, etc. You are willing to engage with new challenges, maybe make mistakes, but then return and develop your skills within the areas you want to work within. You will still need to sit in a minibus, smell your friends, and live life out of a backpack. You also have the possibility to develop your own business idea, or work to get a position within the outdoor industry.

Admission Process Admission to both NFL and NFG is open throughout the year. We have three occasions during the year, at the end of November, at the end of February, and at the end of April, when we conduct the entire admission process. All applicants are then welcome to an information session over Teams. These are held in both Swedish and English and take about 1 hour. After this, personal interviews are held with the applicants and results are communicated approximately 2 weeks later. During the summer, you can inquire about possible reserve spots. If such spots are available, an interview is held immediately.

Most applicants start with NFL or the first year. Even experienced outdoor enthusiasts start here to take advantage of the wide range of knowledge the year offers. If you choose NFL and your studies proceed as planned, you are guaranteed a spot in NFG the following year. If you want to attend both years, you should apply to NFL. If you are considering applying directly to NFG, it is important that you read the text below.

Requirements and Criteria for NFG Admission

To start studies as a wilderness guide directly in the second year or NFG as we call it, equivalent knowledge to NFL, i.e., the first year at Outdoor Academy, is required. This can be another longer outdoor education. You can also apply directly if you have a lot of personal experience and/or solid work experience in the field. It is also important to have experience of intensive cooperation with other people and to know that you thrive in demanding situations where cooperation is required and personal time is rare. Here you can expect that it is the educators at Outdoor Academy who assess whether your experiences are sufficient to go directly to the second year or not.

At Kronoby Folk High School you have the possibility to complete the stand alone trade examination for WILDERNESS AND NATURE GUIDES according to the national exam standards in Finland. The wilderness guide exam is a trade examination overseen by the state for people who want to work with outdoor recreation.

The Nordisk Friluftsguide (Nordic Outdoor Guide) education is structured to follow the standards of the stand alone exam. The students have the option to complete different parts of the wilderness guide exam throughout the year.

The exam is stand alone because anyone can complete parts of the exam whether their experience is from education and/or work in the industry.

Below is more information about the exam:

Exam standards by National Agency for Education, pdf (in Swedish)

“Identification of knowledge” (in Finnish/Swedish)

The Swedish Fell Safety’s Norms

The Fell Safety Council in Sweden has developed a set of norms for those who lead in the fells, Nordisk Friluftsguide (Nordic Outdoor Guide) satisfies these norms. After the education you obtain the Fell Safety Council’s proof of education for leaders in the fells. More information (in Swedish) can be found at Exam standards the Fell Safety Council (pdf).