At present, there are around 30–35 volunteer grandmothers and grandfathers in Tampere who act as school grandparents in primary schools across the city. They are active and willing retirees who have received training for the role from Mannerheimin Lastensuojeluliitto (MLL) Tampere.
School grandparents spend one weekday at the school. Each has their own “partner class”, whose pupils they get to know and with whom they spend the entire school day, both during lessons and breaks.
School grandparents have time for the children. They listen, help, and show genuine interest in the children’s lives.
The Tampere Older People’s Council expresses concern that this valuable service may have to be reduced due to cuts in funding for voluntary organisations.
The school grandparent service provides intergenerational participation in school life and increases the number of safe adults in children’s everyday environment. Children’s own grandparents may live far away, which makes a “substitute grandparent” especially important.
The role is also significant for the school grandparents themselves. As volunteers, they have the opportunity to get to know today’s pupils and school life. Encounters with children give them experiences of meaning and new relationships. Many school grandparents already have adult children of their own, and some have no children at all. The school grandparent activity offers different generations the chance to meet and learn from one another.
At its meeting on 19 November 2025, the Tampere Older People’s Council decided to make an initiative in support of the school grandparent service. Volunteers are certain to be found among today’s active retirees.
