Sports Institutes

Sports Institutes are the only schools granted by the Ministry of Education and Culture to offer education for a vocational degree in the sports field in Finland. These institutes organize courses for Vocational Qualification in Sports Instruction and sports related further vocational education.

Sports institutes are national or regional educational institutes. Institutes provide non-formal full-time education in boarding schools assignment to organize education that promotes sports activites, well-being and health for the whole population. It consists of sports camps for children and youth, the promotion of adults’ and elderlies’ health and wellbeing. In addition to that the Institutes arrange education and training that supports sport clubs, federations and elite athletes.

Sport performance centers are all-encompassing coaching and development units. Training centers offer pedagogic coaching knowledge and skills, different supporting services for elite sports, training facilities, tests for athletes, recovery tracking services for athlete development and support for coaching.

Sports Institutes have a meaningful role of promoting exercise and sport culture, creating coaching knowledge and combining education and sport, also offering online platforms for sport education. The pedagogical education of Sport Institutes developed originally from physical education (started in 1901) and the expertise and knowledge in sport science.

Education and coaching are developed in a cooperation with the Sport Institutes and other organisations such as the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finnish National Agency for Education, the Finnish Olympic Committee and the Finnish Paralympic Committee.