Hobby tutors visit schools in Tuusula
Tuusula's new hobby tutor programme is an important channel for young people to share their hobby and leisure time wishes and to share information about opportunities with their peers. The hobby tutor training programme attracted enthusiastic participants from all over Tuusula.
The idea for the hobby tutor programme was conceived last August at a meeting of the Tuusula hobby network. The aim of the programme is to spread the word about hobbies and leisure activities among young people. The newly launched programme strongly supports Tuusula’s work as a child-friendly municipality by giving young people the opportunity to influence issues that are important to them.
Hobby tutor activities have been carried out in Liminga since 2025 in the form of Harrastava Liminka (Active Liminga) and HaLI agents, and these have provided useful insights for the implementation in Tuusula.
During the training day, we delved deeper into the thoughts of young people.
The first hobby tutor training course in Tuusula was held in February at Rykmentinpuisto School, Kellokoski and Jokela. Young people in grades 5–8 from around Tuusula were invited to participate in the training, which was advertised with advertisements created by young people in the schools’ hobby and club activities media workshop. Thirty-six young people who were enthusiastic about the topic signed up for the training. The trainers were representatives from Tuusula schools’ hobby and club activities and youth services, as well as from the Tuusula parish.
The training session explored what kind of hobby tutor one could be, and the young people got to plan future activities. The focus was on the young people’s thoughts and ideas, rather than on a ready-made model provided by adults. During the training day, the participants also considered what hobbies are available in Tuusula and discussed their own hobbies. In addition, they considered how young people have found hobbies and leisure activities and how they would like to find information about different hobbies. The young people said that they get information about hobbies from their families, friends, school and advertisements.
As the activity is still taking shape and the aim is to make it appealing to young people, they were also given the opportunity to think of a suitable name for the hobby tutor activity. Could it be hobby agent, hobby buddy or hobby gang? The young people felt it was important that the name did not sound too serious, so that children would feel comfortable asking for advice. A vote will be held later among those who participated in the training. The young people also got to design hoodies that would identify the hobby tutors.
Next steps in the process
During the spring, hobby tutors will have the opportunity to find out about their school’s hobby and club wishes. Many were also enthusiastic about making advertisements or announcing them on the school radio. In the autumn, it will be time to advertise the new hobby season, and hobby tutors will also be able to act as hobby buddies for other children and young people.
During the spring, we will meet once more with all those participating in the hobby tutor training.
Further information from Tuusula municipality trainers:
Project Coordinator Tiina Laine, tiina.laine@tuusula.fi, 040 314 3494
Youth Worker Hanna Kjelin, hanna.kjelin@tuusula.fi, 040 314 4250
This content has been translated using AI