Sámi High School and Reindeer Husbandry School

Our school’s ultimate goal is to prepare Sámi youth for the challenges of functioning and thriving in local, national and international contexts. The school wants to contribute to develop and strengthen identity, language and culture among our Sámi youth.

The school was established in 1953, particularly for the Sami people in Norway. Back then it had courses in sewing and weaving, working with hard materials as wood, iron and metal, and also provided courses in reindeer husbandry.

Guovdageaidnu - Kautokeino is a vibrant Sami-speaking environment, as it is at the school. The school's curriculum is tailored to and rooted in the local needs and values of Sami language and culture, but within the norwegian official system. All pupils study Sami language in different levels, the majority has it is their first language.

The school is a state-run school open to pupils from the whole country, as well as from the Sami region of Northern Sweden, Finland and Russia. The school's vision is that, on leaving school, pupils shall have a solid body of knowledge rooted in Sami culture. Our school is officialy recognized as a distinctly indigeous school on the upper secondary level, under the platform of WINHEC. This gives our students unique possiblities for communication and exchange with other indigenous schools.

Our students can study either subject-specific academic studies or vocational programmes. We also teach net-based courses in Sámi language for students at other schools.

In the reindeer husbandry and sámi handicraft programmes, we recruit students from the whole country. Traditional knowledge is important for our school. We want to include and implement it in as many subjects as possible.

Students choose our school because Sámi language, culture, and way of life is important for them. They want to meet Sámi youth from other Sámi areas, as well as live in a community where Sámi are in majority.