Diak’s
Development Days 2012 were held on September 27th and 28th
with a full house. Teachers and administrators from every campus were in
attendance, including seven student representatives: O’Diako head secretary Sonja
Frilander, board members Suvi Ristolainen and Pierre Demeaulenaere, student
council members Antti Honkanen, Taavi Ahonen and Prabesh Khatiwada, and DSS
representative Rebecca Carp.
Student speech by Suvi
The conference
commenced with a heavy agenda. Due to budget cuts from the Ministry of
Education, Diak has been forced to reconfigure its organization and plan the reduction
of its physical and administrative structure. This has already resulted in the
unhappy loss of long-time staff and beloved teachers.
Diak must
now think of itself as an integrated whole, rather than seven different
campuses across Finland. The main thrust
of the Development Days was to implement a participatory approach to articulate
a clear vision and goals for the various branches of Diak’s new structure. As
of January 1, 2013, Diak’s structure will exist as five areas of knowledge:
resources and quality; participation and health; church and society;
development and expertise; leadership and systems of service. All of these five
areas are fragmented into many smaller groups.
text message comments on the screen
Principals giving gifts before karaoke and disco
The influence
of student advocates at Diak’s Development Days was not negligible. The group responsible
for development of the DSS program (Englanninkielisen koulutuksen
kehittämisryhmä), which is under the “participation and health” area, included
three international students. They successfully advocated for the inclusion of
one or more student representatives in the development group for the DSS
program - and due to their influence, an article for “inclusion and
participation of student expertise” was added to the group’s main goals. That
means that most decisions regarding the planning and implementation of the DSS program
and curriculum will be open to student input.
O’Diako
members and Diak students in general, don’t be too confused or discouraged to
make your voice heard during these times of change. It is more important now than
ever to have a part in shaping Diak’s future.
Written by Rebecca Carp
Written by Rebecca Carp
Suvi, Jorma & Pierre
