UPM-Biofore-Magazine-3-2016-EN

The Words Matter project is about helping to improve the literacy skills of young people studying in vocational schools in Finland. The ability to understand texts and write down ideas is a valuable skill in the workplace in future as well.

Supporting youth literacy worldwide

particularly important in today’s media environment as a guard against fraud.” Upcoming workshops will be hosted by other guest stars such as martial arts athletes, who will discuss themes related to mental discipline. Two-way learning opportunity The Finnish Reading Centre will be organizing a total of 100 functional literacy workshops for vocational school students in technical fields all over Finland. Villacís adds that the project is also targeting the adults working with these young people, such as teachers and principals at vocational institutions. “The workshops are only part of the initiative. The lessons learned and the materials compiled throughout the project will become a resource for all vocational schools. After the project, the teachers will be able to use the videos to organize similar workshops on their own.” TheWords Matter project is a co-effort between the Finnish Reading Centre, Finnish teachers working in vocational schools, authors, as well as researchers in the field. It will also involve collaboration with libraries. Villacís praises UPM’s contribution. “Companies are seeing corporate social responsibility as an increasingly important part of their agenda – and what could be more important than supporting people’s competence and literacy in tomorrow’s competence- based society?” She adds: “This project also provides an excellent learning opportunity for us, since there has not beenmuch collaboration between culture and business in Finland yet. We hope that the project will provide us with a goodmodel for the future.”

Promoting literacy and learning among children and young people is a focus area of UPM’s Biofore Share and Care programme. “Through our contribution to theWords Matter project, UPM is helping vocational school students in technical fields to improve their textual skills. As a nation-wide organization, the Finnish Reading Centre is well-equipped to tackle this challenge,” says Pirkko Harrela , UPM’s Executive Vice President of Stakeholder Relations. “We too are concerned about young people’s reading skills, and we want to increase awareness of the importance of reading and lifelong learning. Pictures and videos play an important part in the lives of young people today, but in the workplace the ability to understand texts and write down your ideas is a valuable skill,” she adds. UPM is also involved in other reading and learning-related projects in Finland, Germany, Uruguay and China.

Pirkko Harrela

thinking about the value of good reading skills,” explains Emmi Jäkkö , Communications Officer at the Finnish Reading Centre. Jäkkö states that the project’s ultimate goal is to challenge young people to readmore. “Many of the students have lost the joy of reading and the gratification that comes with it. With this project, we’re trying to inspire them to readmore on their own.

“TheWords Matter project is our way of addressing this issue and helping to improve the literacy skills of these young people,” she adds.

Finnish and general knowledge syllabus due to funding cuts. Students today are expected to be more proactive. “We believe that improving your reading skills is ultimately down to your attitude. The situation is more likely to improve if the students are more motivated.”

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Ilmi Villacís

The international PISA study shows that the literacy gap between girls and boys is growing in Finland. This trend worries Villacís, as boys also achieve below-average results in international literacy comparisons. Boys make up approximately 80 per cent of all students in technical fields at vocational schools. “Literacy is closely linked to mathematical skills as well as success in society as a whole. Boys with poor reading and writing skills find it harder to succeed in further studies and working life in general. Slow readers also find it difficult to improve their other professional competencies. This is why we need to work hard to improve the situation.” Making matters worse, vocational schools have recently cut back their

UPM supports reading among refugee children in Germany through German Stiftung Lesen. The foundation donates reading and story boxes to refugee centres all around Germany.

Hip hop inspiration The 18-monthWords Matter project had its launch in autumn 2016. The first

By getting personal, we believe we can achieve the best results.” Plans for the future

include a media workshop where

workshops were taught by literary

and art critic Aleksis Salusjärvi and rapper Mikko Sarjanen from the rap group Atomirotta. “The workshops took a closer look at themes present in Finnish rapmusic lyrics. The instructors did their best to build a positive, spontaneous connection with the young participants to get them

participants discuss trolling and analyse clickbait headlines used on

Emmi Jäkkö

internet sites. The feedback from the students has been encouraging. “The workshops have made them aware that a text may have hiddenmeanings and that they should pay attention to messages between the lines. Literacy is also

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