Executive Director of Sylva,Finland
(Excerpts from a presentation at the SIOP/ICCCPO conference in Brisbane -Oct. 2001)
* Population is 5.2 million
* Forests cover three quarters of the country's surface area of 338 000 sq. km. Other outstanding features of Finland's scenery are some 190 000 lakes and approximately as many islands.
* The highest daytime temperature in southern Finland during the summer occasionally rises to almost 30°C.
* During the winter months, temperatures of minus 20°C are not uncommon.
Children with cancer are treated in university hospitals. Annually 140 new cases of children with cancer are diagonsed. We have a high class health care, where every patient gets treatment.
The Finish parent organization for children with cancer is called SYLVA. It is a national organisation of about 1500 families in various parts of Finland. It was established by parents of children with cancer with the aim to help patients and their families. We believe that it is important for children with cancer to continue school during treatment because:
- Seriously ill children see school in an entirely new light
- It helps children to maintain a "normal" life
- It gives them faith in the future
However, there are various problems in arranging school for children with cancer. Thus, the teachers and rehabilitation counsellors from 5 Finish children´s cancer units listed the problems observed in the education of children with cancer. Information was collected from patients, hospital schools, regular schools as well as a teachers and parents. The Finnish school legistation was also studied with regard to private teaching. The study aimed at finding answers to the following questions:
- How should school education be organised for children with cancer during treatment?
- What problems are there in organising school education for children with cancer?
- How to establish close connections between the patientes' regular schools and the hospital schools?
On the basis of the gathered information and experiences it was concluded that the education of children with cancer can be improved through co-operation between regular schools and hospital schools. Teachers and school-mates need information on childhood cancer and how to approach a child with cancer and practical advice and examples of how to encourage contact between children with cancer and their class-mates in school.
This prompted teachers and rehabilitation counsellors to write a book on organizing school education for children with cancer: "Kouluopas"- a guide for the schools of children with cancer.
- The impact of childhood cancer and treatment on learning
- Legislative framework for private teaching
- Stories about schools and related problems as told by children with cancer
- Parents´ views
- Teachers´ and class-mates´ confusion and difficulties in approaching children with cancer
- Even a dying patient has a right to school education
- Faced by death, teachers and class-mates need help
- Examples of well-organized school education during the treatment of children with cancer
Now it is easier for children with cancer to return to their regular schools, since they have a close contact with their teachers and class-mates as well as the whole school environment during treatment.
The book "Kouluopas" (written in Finish) can be ordered at www.sylva-ry.fi