Become a school visitor

Schools are happy to cooperate with the Red Cross. The organisation is well known among teachers, and we do receive many school visit requests.

School visit requests related to first aid and health, as well as equality and anti-racism work, are part of everyday life in many regions.

There are many ways how to have school visit. In addition to the themes of the visit requests being varied, the way they are carried out also varies depending on the situation. The wish may be for a workshop during a theme day, an auditorium visit, a morning assembly, a parents' evening visit or a traditional lesson visit. The age of the audience can range from preschoolers to upper secondary students and to the students' parents.

School visits can be carried out based on the schools' needs as well as the expertise and interests found within the branch. We therefore encourage volunteers to visit schools on the themes that they feel they genuinely have a command of and that are familiar to them.

It is important that every visit would leave a positive experience for the students, the teacher and the volunteer visitor alike, and that the visit would be successful and safe in every way. When you visit a school, you represent the Red Cross and may be the first contact with the organisation for many.

Become a school visitor

Volunteers already involved in Red Cross activities are welcome to join school cooperation, as are new and enthusiastic volunteers of all ages who embrace our organisation's values as their own.

We organise nationwide school cooperation info sessions and school visitor training courses a couple of times a year. In the school visitor training, you receive practical support and guidance on what should be taken into account when arranging a school visit, during the visit itself and afterwards. You will also become familiar with the materials created to support the visits.

Working as a school visitor is suitable for you if you like children and young people, dare to meet them as they are, can be naturally at ease in the company of many different kinds of people, and understand that a school visit is not so much about you and your expertise but about awakening children's and young people's enthusiasm and interest, and through that, learning about the world. It is also important that you have the time and the opportunity to make school visits on weekdays, when there is teaching at school.

School cooperation info sessions and upcoming training courses are always announced in Oma Punainen Risti.

Visit themes

You can use the The Red Cross – Aid Around the World learning material during a lesson visit where a presentation of the Red Cross's activities is requested.

You can find the learning material on Finnish Red Cross Learning Material Service.

For visits related to friendship and social skills, you can make use of the exercises and videos from the Friendship Skills Programme or the Friendship Skills with the Moomins learning materials. Explore the materials here.

In addition, the Mind Sharing booklet contains a collection of activity-based exercises, some of which are also well suited to school visits.

The Together Against Racism lessons about equality are also well suited for school visits. There are separate packages about the material for primary school and for older students. Explore the packages here.

For visits related to first aid, you can make use of the first aid packages found in the learning material service. Explore them here.