Several of Finland's newspapers begin this Monday with coverage of a new set of behavioural guidelines for schools outlined by the Minister of Education and Culture, Sanni Grahn-Laasonen of the National Coalition Party.
Regional paper Aamulehti reports that the minister wants schools to draw up a new code of conduct that expressly forbids online bullying. The change would mean that teachers could give students detention for name-calling and other negative behaviour on social media platforms, something they are not yet at liberty to do.
"A code of conduct is a good way of agreeing on common ground rules online," Grahn-Laasonen is quoted as saying. "Jointly prepared rules are the best; if the principal just prints out a list of do's and don'ts on their own it may not incentivise students to obey."
The minister also says she hopes attention will be paid to how bullying has changed and what new forms it can take with modern technology.
Unconventional decorations, requirements change
Speaking of technology, no one living in Helsinki will be able to avoid seeing Slush everywhere this week as adventurous start-ups and endorsers alike flock to the Convention Centre in Pasila to Europe's largest technological event.
Top daily Helsingin Sanomat goes behind the scenes to look at what goes into the visual image of the international expo. Props will include hay poles, granite, medicinal herbs and dream catchers – because that is what head designer Jenni Kääriäinen envisions will best represent the spirit of Slush.
"I approach each Slush like a theatre production. The event is like a makeshift city, the kind that you will miss when you leave," Kääriäinen says in HS.
Her work may be familiar to some from super-popular music festival Flow and the Lux Helsinki light carnival, and this year she will also be in charge of metal fest Tuska. All happenings have, in their way, helped to shape the capital city into what it is today, HS writes.
Meanwhile another regional newspaper, Turun Sanomat writes of winds of change coming to Finnish libraries with the onset of a new law.
Professionals say they consider the law to be mostly positive, as the library system will remain entirely free for all and the societal task of the institution will be more clearly spelled out. But the changes will also bring challenges, some of them significant.
"Most of us library workers come from a background of the arts in some form, but the bill must in future also function more clearly as a forum for political debate. We have to talk long and hard about how we are going to do that," says Maarit Järveläinen, Forssa library chief.
Not only that, but the minimum requirements for who will be allowed to work in a library and serve book-lovers will be lowered, which small libraries are concerned about. Library workers will still need to have a university degree to qualify, however.
Rosberg the younger wins World Cup
More than three decades after his father, racecar driver Nico Rosberg has won the Formula One World Championship.
The sports section of tabloid Iltalehti goes deep into Nico's victory and his career preceding it, drawing attention to the obvious label he was born into – the son of world champion Keke – while exclaiming that Rosberg the younger has now "stepped into the light", out of his father's shadow.
Despite pressure from fellow drivers Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, Rosberg earned a full 385 points in all and rose to the title of world champ in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
