The main objective of Vi7 is to ensure a well rounded and qualitative education in Swedish in the region.

Vi7 for the teacher
Due to Vi7, the teachers gain valuable in-service training, in addition to ideas, help and support from colleagues teaching the same subject in other upper secondary schools.   

Vi7 for the student
For the student, the collaboration within the Vi7 network is more than merely taking online classes with students and teachers from other upper secondary schools.

Since 2007, Vi7 has been a precursor when it comes to distant learning. The Vi7 network offers a large number of joint courses online for the students in the upper secondary schools of Vörå, Korsholms, Vasa, Vasa training school, Petalax, Närpes and Kristinestad. Moreover, the evolutionary networking developed in the past years, has been recognized by educational authorities, both in the Swedish speaking Finland as well as nationally. The aim of Vi7 is to offer education which is a complement to the courses that each school themselves offers their own students.  

In total, Vi7 provides its students with an additional 14 courses. Basically, the courses are normal senior high school modules for the student. The only difference is that this particular module is taught online. Hence, the teacher doesn’t necessarily work in the same school, but in one of the other upper secondary schools within the Vi7 network. In the same manner, the participating students can come from any of the seven schools. This kind of distant learning consists of education online, both on platforms and as video calls along with independent studies. 

Furthermore, the management team of Vi7, consists of the principals of the seven upper secondary education establishments mentioned above. This team gathers weekly for online meetings. Besides the weekly meetings, the principals collaborate with Team Nord (the network of secondary upper schools in the northern part of Ostrobothnia), upper secondary education networks in southern parts of Finland, along with educational institutes in Swedish speaking Finland as well as nationally. 

To sum up, the main objective of Vi7 is to secure a well rounded and qualitative education in Swedish in the region.

With the help of an operative coordinator, the teachers in the different schools specialised within the same subject, may join together in for them valuable meetings and in-service training, either online or in real life. Thus, the aim is to find lecturers specialised in their field, such as authors, censors from the Matriculation Examination Board, along with experts and professors  from different institutions and universities in both Finland and Sweden. 

Moreover, when the teachers of upper secondary education come together they can share experiences, solve problems as well as hold in-service training sessions with each other. In fact, teachers specialised in the same field meet up about twice each semester, i.e. four times per school year in total. 

Finally, in the upper secondary schools with fewer students, the teacher sometimes lacks a colleague teaching the same subject (e.g. foreign languages). Nevertheless, due to Vi7, the teacher receives ideas, support and help from other teachers specialised in the same field, when it comes to among other things teaching, assessment along with pre-correction of the matriculation exams.  

For the student, the collaboration within the Vi7 network is more than merely taking online classes together with other students and teachers from other upper secondary schools. 

For starters, the ninth course in mother tongue studies, includes a separate segment in the form of an exam in oral communication. The arranging responsibilities for this exam, alters between the mother tongue educators in the seven schools. Hence, the students are assessed in one of the high schools together with students from all of the seven. 

Secondly, the guidance counsellors of the seven upper secondary schools have a continuous collaboration to facilitate the process for the students to choose their further education. Owing to this, “Career” is an event arranged every year, created for the last year students to be introduced to almost all colleges, higher vocational education programs and universities in Swedish speaking Finland. Correspondingly, through their project called “Future Business Day”, the second year students are given the opportunity to visit different workplaces in order to get first hand experience of what it would be like to work in healthcare, in marketing, in management, in the media business, in the tech or IT industry, with culture, tourism and so much more. 

Under more relaxed circumstances, upper secondary schools from Vi7 and Team Nord (the network between the Swedish speaking upper secondary schools in northern Ostrobothnia) compete in an event called “Gymnasiad”. The participating schools choose three members on their team, which include both boys and girls as well as students from all three grades. The event includes different games and competitions based on all of the subjects the students are taught in school. The winning team receives the trophy of the event and the honour to host the event the following year.  

Lastly, for the wellbeing of the new students, each school has its team of tutors. If an older student wants to become a tutor, they sign up in their own school but their training is together with future tutors from the other Vi7 upper secondary schools. This gives the students a wide network and support in their role as tutor in their own school.