Since the year 2006 the Commission has organised some great events:

• Qualified Vocational Education, Norrtälje, 21-22 April 2009

A seminar was held in Norrtälje on 21-22 April 2009 with participation of 20 persons from cities in Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Lithuania. According to the points of view and experiences that were presented in the seminar, the aim is to draw up a proposal/application to EU's Leonardo da Vinci-programme with alignment on a TOI-Transfer of Innovation- project on the main theme "Develop vocational skill considering the labour markets needs. The seminar was partly financed by the education Commission and partly by SIDA in Sweden. UBC cities are welcomed to take part in this project. 

• Annual Meetin of the Commission on Education, Tallinn, 3 April 2009

Topic: Youth Nature Schools and Centers around the Baltic Sea
Kurt Pettersson opened the meeting and presented the presidium, secretariat, budget and activities 2009, reports for 2008. The idea of a Network of Nature Schools and Centers was described by Annely Veevo, Head of Commission Secretariat. Possibilities for cooperation with other commissions and the Project of Lake Viktoria was presented by Guldbrand Skjönberg, Commission on Environment and Kaia Jäppinen talked about cooperation with Youth Commission. The day finished with a Visit to the Nature House of Nõmme Youth House. More info here.

•  "Small Town Inhabitants - Educated or Uneducated People?”, 2008

Can small town inhabitant be successful? Has small town inhabitant a chance to make success in the world? What is success? What makes a person successful? What does it a person need for success? What does it mean education by success? What kind of possibilities small town inhabitant has for self education? Is the "real life" only in big towns? - were the questions for the youth competition in the end of 2008 that was arranged by Commission on Education. First prize went to Karl Haljasmets (Tartu, Estonia), second prize to Elīna Ļitvinova (Saldus rajons, Latvia) and third prize to Maciej Mateusz Wencel (Gdynia, Poland).

I prize (400 EUR): Mini laptop MSI Wind U100
II prize (275 EUR): iPod Classic 160GB
III prize (175 EUR): iPod nano 8GB
Incentive prizes (total: 150 EUR): 5 Photo books „Hiiumaa” („Dagö”)

More information about the competition here (47 KB)

• "Activities for school children after schooltime", international conference and concert in April in Tallinn. Hobby education in Estonia - 65

On April 8th-9th 2008 the conference Hobby education - added value for youth and society took place and related topics were discussed in Kanutiaia Youth House in Tallinn (Estonia).
Among the participants there were heads of Estonian hobby schools, representatives of local governments and also foreign guests. International organisations like the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC), European Association for Leisure Time Institutions of Children and Youth (EAICY), International Movement for Leisure in Science and Technology (MILSET) and the European Network for the Promotion of Youth Leisure and Voluntary Activities and Recognition of Youth Non-formal and Informal Learning were presented.
The topics were: non-formal education today, diverse nature of education, needs and opportunities, and added value for life. Participants visited Tallinn hobby schools and took part of anniversary concert where the best groups from hobby schools performed.

• Annual Meeting in Stockholm, 3 April 2008

On 3rd April the UBC Commission on Education had the Annual Meeting in Stockholm. representatives from UBC member cities and UBC Commission on Environment and Energy were invited.

Meeting was content-rich and successful. The representatives from commissions on environment and energy spoke of possibility of cooperation between commissions.
Youngsters from Kärdla spoke of an idea to organise in Autumn the international conference for small towns: "Small town citizens - educated or uneducated people?". The conference will concentrate for educational possibilities what citizens in small towns have: Where are our roots? What kind of culture do we have? What are our possibilities?
Mare Aasma from Kärdla conducted a brainstorm to find new ideas for next years. The main results were: youth involvement (arenas for exchange youth/ teachers
Outdoor school, etc) and joint projects (non-formal education, projects for adults, CTE Catalogue, Sustainability enviromental, vocational education; nature- practical seminars, camps, etc).

At the end the members of commission elected the chairman and vice-chairman for next two years. Kurt Petersson, who has been a chairman from beginning of commission, will continue as chairman. The new vice-chairman is Mare Aasma from Kärdla. She has been long time in educationfield and has many good experiences.

UBC Commission on Education will have much work next years and hopes for good cooperation with other UBC commissions.

• Conference "What kind of guidance need the youngsters?", Kärdla, 9 October 2007

On 9th October 2007 the Commission on Education had a conference "What kind of guidance need the youngsters?" in Kärdla. Around 100 participants were presented at the conference, most of them youngsters.
The conference was built up in 4 parts: policy, expectations of youngsters, expectations of enterprisers and expectations of universities.

Eesmaa, Pettersson

Policy
From Republic of Estonia was represented Edgar Slümmer (Estonian Youthwork Center), who spoke about EU policy about youth and guidance. He said there is no EU policy in classical way but is only "White Paper: A New Impetus for European Youth."
Ülly Enn from European Youth Estonian Office spoke about attracting young unemployed through non-formal study.

Expectations of universities
Kurt Pettersson as a representative of Uppsala University spoke about what expectations has University from youngsters after High School. He brought out examples from youth research school in Norrtälje.

Expectations of youngsters
Students from Rodengymnasium in Norrtälje, Annika Barnard and Hogir Aslan, spoke about youngsters expectations before they starting to work.
"Are young people in Estonia ready to enter into job market?" was spoken from Anetta Kütt, Hiiumaa Youth Council; Margit Kagadze, Hiiumaa Councelling Center).

Expectations of enterprisers
From enterprisers were represented Mr Enn Veevo (M&P Nurst, Estonia), Ms Anu Pielberg (OÜ Hiiu Autotrans, Estonia) and Ms Liina Simm (Personnel Firma Fontes). E.Veevo brought forth rhetorical question: "The Young Employee - Yes or No?" A.Pielberg spoke about "Does Young worker meet expectations of employer?" and L.Simm about expectations of employers in generally.
The conference was very interesting. Youngesters said later, they were pity that only so less (around 100) pupils heard the speeches and promised next time disseminate information to more youngsters.

Annika Barnard, Hogir Aslan		Liina Simm		Participants of the Conference

• Photocompetition "My Friend in My City", 2006

UBC Commission on Education organized from May to September 2006 in co-work with Kärdla City Municipality International Youth Photo Competition for young people in age 13 - 16 years.
When choosing the theme for Competition, organizing team searched for a slogan, which could be understood in many ways. - chosen was "My friend in My City"

a) Who is my friend in my city? A boy/ girl? A dog/cat? Computer? TV-set? New and expensive car?
b) In which city is my friend: In this city where I live? Or there where I would like to live? Or in the city where I was born.?

So this theme gave plenty of space for phantasy.

55 photos came in to the competition. Among them there were a lot of very good photos. The work of international jury was very difficult, because the level of the photos was very even. Jury had a question more than once: what to do if many photos have the same amount of points and rating. After long and exhausting work were announced winners:
1. place - Valdur Roosenvald from Estonia
2. place - Roberta Tranizaite from Lithuania
3. place - Anna Hodjutsenko from Estonia.

The Team of UBC Commision on Education printed Top 30 photos on paper and from them was organized a Photo Exhibition. The exhibition "My Friend in my City" was opened in Kärdla on 8th of October, 2006.