Context

Finland has a long history of outstanding performance on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In 2000, PISA’s first year, Finland emerged as the highest-performing country in Europe and ranked among the top performers in the OECD across subjects (reading, math, and science). Over the next decade, Finland continued to rank among PISA’s top global performers, with scores notable for their equity across socioeconomic groups. Since 2012, Finland’s scores on all three tests have been in decline, though it remains one of Europe’s strongest performers, particularly in science. Finland continues to demonstrate high levels of equity in student performance, if not quite as high as a decade ago, with minimal variation between schools and a larger percentage of disadvantaged students achieving high scores compared with other OECD countries. 

Teachers in Finland have a well-deserved reputation for excellence, and the Finnish public trusts and admires its educators. However, the Finnish focus on teacher quality is only one element of a carefully designed system that has been adapting to economic and social changes for the last half-century. It was only in 1970 that Finland established a basic comprehensive school for all students through grade 9, and not until the mid-1980s that it created a common curriculum. Finland coupled this curricular reform with a restructuring of teacher education, moving preparation programs into a small set of research universities and requiring a master’s degree for all teachers, which elevated the status of the profession. Decentralization of authority followed in the 1990s, with a shift in the management of schools and teaching from the central ministry to local schools and municipalities. This decade also saw an expansion of secondary and postsecondary education and the opening of new pathways from vocational education to university education—opportunities that Finland developed well before many other countries. Finland also created university-level technical education institutions and integrated basic and adult vocational education and training (VET) into a unified system organized around competency-based certifications. 

Finland has also faced challenges. A financial crisis throughout the 2000s and 2010s reduced education funding and strained the school system.  During this same period, a rise in immigration required new strategies and resources to serve an increasingly diverse student population, particularly in the country’s capital of Helsinki.  Unsurprisingly, during this time, Finland saw declines in overall performance and equity.  As the economy rebounded, the Finnish government pledged to strengthen the education system and address inequities.  It reversed funding cuts to education and extended compulsory schooling to age 18. More recently, the government has also focused on expanding early childhood education and committed to raising the population’s postsecondary attainment levels. In 2025, Finland introduced new measures to its education system aimed at arresting the decline in academic performance. These include expanding learning time for students in primary and lower secondary school and making learning support more flexible and group-based.

Like many countries, Finland has strived to make its education system responsive to the opportunities and challenges of the digital era and a fast-changing economy. This has included finding ways to capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI) as a means to improve teaching and learning. Since the pandemic, Finland has strengthened its social, health, and well-being supports for young people. It has also introduced a strategy for continuous learning focused on new training opportunities for adults to prepare for the digital transition, address targeted labor needs, and better serve underrepresented populations.  This builds on a long tradition of adult learning in Finnish communities.

Quick Facts

Rolls and responsibilities

The Ministry of Education and Culture oversees all publicly funded education from early childhood to higher education, including regulating teacher preparation and implementing all other policies that fall under national legislation. The National Agency for Education (the EDUFI) is the operational arm of the Ministry and is responsible for the implementation of policy and system administration, including the development of the national curriculum for pre-primary, basic, and upper secondary schools and national qualification requirements for vocational education and training. The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINECC) is an independent agency within the EDUFI that is responsible for the national evaluation of education at all levels. National Education and Training Committees are expert bodies that collaborate with the Ministry and the EDUFI to help design and develop vocational education and training.

There are six regional state administrative agencies whose primary task is to promote regional equity, as required by law. Regarding education, they assess the accessibility of early childhood services, field complaints, and oversee in-service training for teachers. The administration of basic schools primarily falls to Finland’s more than 300 municipalities, which determine funding allocations, local curricula, and the recruitment of personnel. The municipalities can extend decision-making authority for these functions to schools and often do so in smaller towns and cities. Some schools, typically at the upper secondary level, are operated by foundations and associations; a handful are operated by religious groups. Only about 2 percent of all schools are private; among upper secondary schools, the percentage is closer to ten percent, and many of those are vocational schools.

Goal setting and planning

Until recently, Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture developed its own four-year plans with specific objectives and measures to guide the education system during that period. In 2019, the Prime Minister’s office led the creation of the first ten-year government-wide strategy (“Inclusive and Competent Finland—a socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable society”) to set comprehensive national goals and contribute to the consistency and stability of reform direction across all government agencies. Many of its overarching goals are focused on education, such as 1) improve the education level of all Finnish citizens and decrease differences in learning outcomes among them; 2) elevate the well-being of children and young people; and 3) enhance access to opportunity in society through education and training.

The Ministry of Education and Culture, along with other government ministries, introduced their own ten-year strategies to implement broader government-wide education goals. The Ministry’s strategy has committed to investing in upskilling programs for those already in the workforce; reducing fees for preschool and childcare; raising the quality and number of preschool supports; elevating learning outcomes in primary and lower secondary education; and developing personalized learning pathways for each learner in upper secondary education.

In 2023, the Ministry also released a four-year plan for the Digitalization of Education and Training. The plan outlines goals to facilitate digital transformation in education: 1) Everyone’s ability to learn and develop their competence is improved through digitalization; 2) digital solutions constitute a high-quality digital operating environment supporting cooperation between actors; and 3) digitalization supports knowledge-based development. The Ministry is currently developing recommendations to support the systemic integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into education, teaching, and training.

The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, an independent foundation created and operated under the supervision of the parliament, focuses on analyzing key trends and developing future strategy In 2019, Sitra released a vision of lifelong learning for Finland that lays out its purpose, the drivers that change the current system, implementation challenges, and funding principles. Per Sitra, “Lifelong learning is not only about competence, competitiveness and well-being but also about the core of our society – education, inclusion and prevention of social inequality.

Accountability

The Finnish Education Evaluation Center (FINEEC) is responsible for monitoring and conducting evaluations of the education system. FINECC staff, comprising selected researchers, teachers, and principals, conducts evaluations of learning outcomes in specific subject areas as well as thematic evaluations (e.g., assessing the performance of immigrant children in Finnish schools). FINEEC also administers periodic national, sample-based assessments of learning by subject for pre-primary and basic education, typically covering Mother Tongue Language and mathematics.

Finland does not conduct formal inspections of basic or upper secondary schools, but FINEEC supports schools in their efforts to conduct self-evaluations. For institutes of higher education, FINEEC conducts quality audits and makes recommendations for improvement in both policy and practice. These findings are published but the recommendations are not binding.

Financing

Funding for basic and upper secondary schools is divided between the central government, which covers about 40 percent of costs, and municipal governments, which assume the remaining 60 percent. The amount of state funding each municipality receives is determined by its population of school-age children. The Ministry of Education and Culture allocates additional per-student funds for immigrant students who have been living in Finland for less than four years, low-income students, students in single-parent families, and students with parents who are unemployed or undereducated. Municipalities can distribute these funds to schools as they see fit.

Both national and municipal governments support vocational education and training (VET) by directly funding VET schools. In 2017, Finland phased in a new performance-based funding process; as of 2022, 50 percent of a VET school’s funding has been based on student enrollment, 35 percent on the number of students it graduates and qualifications it awards, and 15 percent on the percentage of its graduates who are employed or enrolled in further studies.

Higher education institutions are primarily funded through the national budget. The Ministry allocates core funding for universities and universities of applied sciences (UAS), but these institutions can also receive additional funding from external sources, such as foundations and the European Union. Adult education is funded jointly by the central government and localities.

There are very few private schools in Finland, with only three percent of students enrolled in private basic schools and 10 percent in private upper secondary schools. Nonprofit organizations own and manage the majority of private schools, most of which are faith-based. They receive the same government funding as public schools and must provide students with the same services and meet the same educational standards.

Preparing for Long Life Learning: Preschool to Secondary

Preschool

Finland offers highly subsidized preschool for all three-, four-, and five-year-olds, organized through the municipality. In 2016, Finland also began requiring a year of compulsory pre-primary education for all six-year-olds and is considering extending this to five-year-olds. Almost all pre-primary programs are public, but there has been a slight increase in the number of private, for-profit centers. All centers, public and private, must meet national standards for quality and follow the national Curriculum Guidelines for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). These guidelines were put in place following the transfer of ECEC oversight to the Ministry of Education in 2013, with the goal of raising and standardizing quality throughout the ECEC system and strengthening its connection to primary schools.

There are no formal learning standards for early childhood education and no requirements for formal assessments. Early childhood teachers are expected to use formative assessments to gauge children’s progress and use the yielded data to adjust instruction or program quality. Teachers develop an individual learning plan for each student that is later passed on to the child’s primary school teacher.

Close to 90 percent of Finnish children between the ages of three and five were enrolled in an early childhood program in 2022.

Primary and secondary system

Structure

In Finland, students start compulsory school with one year of pre-primary at age six, followed by nine years in basic school (grades one through nine), and three years in upper secondary school (grades 10 through 12). Students are permitted to take an additional fourth year in upper secondary school if needed. In 2020, the government extended compulsory schooling from age 16 to 18 and made upper secondary education tuition-free until the end of the calendar year in which the student turns 20 years old. A key goal of this reform was to retain students who leave school before completing a qualification.

During early grades in basic school, students generally stay together in a cohort with the same teacher for several years, a practice commonly known as looping. This allows teachers to build more personal, lasting relationships with students and closely follow their development over several grade levels. Students often stay together even after the early years of school and sometimes have the same subject teachers for multiple years in the upper grades of basic school.

After completing basic education, students choose between general or vocational upper secondary schools, with about half of students pursuing each pathway. Students are admitted to general upper secondary schools based largely on their basic school GPA, and admissions can be competitive in urban areas with many options. Vocational upper secondary schools are generally less competitive but often have specific prerequisites for admission. Both paths take three years to complete (but may be extended to four) and provide eligibility for higher education. A set of upper secondary schools offers specialized programs, such as those focused on sciences, art, music, or sports. Others offer the International Baccalaureate diploma program.

Standards and curriculum

Finland has national curricula for basic and upper secondary schools that include learning objectives for core subjects, suggested time allotments for each subject, and requirements for assessment, with guidance on how to grade assessments at different benchmarks. The basic school curriculum is organized by grade bands: grades one to two, grades three to six, and grades seven to nine. Municipalities either develop their own curriculum that reflects their local contexts based on the national curriculum or develop curriculum guidance and allow each school to create its own curriculum. Separate local curricula are required for Finnish-speaking, Swedish-speaking, and Sami-speaking schools, in which instruction in the native language complements basic education.

The core subjects in the basic school curriculum are as follow:

• Grades one to two: Mother tongue language and literature, second national language, foreign languages, mathematics, environmental studies, religion and ethics, music, visual arts, crafts, physical education, and guidance counseling (focused on personal responsibility and study skills);
• Grades three to six: Mother tongue language and literature, second national language, foreign languages, mathematics, environmental studies, religion and ethics, history and social studies, music, visual arts, crafts, physical education, and guidance counseling (focused on social and teamwork skills);
• Grades seven to nine: Mother tongue language and literature, second national language, foreign languages, mathematics, biology, geography, physics, chemistry, health education, religion and ethics, history and social studies, music, visual arts, crafts, physical education, home economics, and guidance counseling (focused on transitions in studies and careers).

The National Agency for Education revised the curriculum for basic schools in 2016. The revised curriculum added a set of what Finland calls “transversal competences” which are to be integrated across all subject areas. These are thinking and learning to learn; cultural competence, interaction, and self-expression; taking care of oneself and managing daily life; multiliteracy; ICT competence; working life competence and entrepreneurship; and participation, involvement, and building a sustainable future. The curriculum also encourages schools to integrate subjects through interdisciplinary projects.

To support schools and municipalities in developing and implementing local basic school curricula based on the new national curriculum, Finland established the Majakka (“lighthouse”) network, which offers online resources for preparing curricula and has facilitated meetings among local educators. In 2017, €100 million (USD $121 million) was allocated to support localities in implementing transversal competences; municipalities also established 2,000 tutor-teacher positions to support the teaching of the transversal competences. The next revision of the curriculum is expected after 2026.

As part of an effort to improve achievement in Mother Tongue Language and literature, mathematics, and science, Finland added additional curricular learning time to those subjects in 2025.

The Core Curriculum for General Upper Secondary Education, which was updated in 2019, is designed differently than the one for basic school. Students are required to complete 150 credits for graduation. Ninety-four or 102 credits are compulsory, depending on the choice of math sequences (foundation or advanced), with the remainder elective. Courses are modularized, with each module worth one to three credits. Schools combine modules into subject-specific or multi-disciplinary study units. Required subjects include Mother Tongue Language and literature, mathematics, sciences, humanities, religion, health, arts, physical education, and career planning. Some elective subjects are required to be offered nationally; others can be developed at the school level. The transversal competences that are part of the basic school curriculum were integrated into the upper secondary curriculum.

The curriculum of upper secondary vocational schools is based on national vocational qualifications. These include both vocational units and general education common units. There are 42 initial secondary qualifications within ten broad areas: Agriculture and Forestry; Business, Administration, and Law; Education; Health and Welfare; Humanities and Arts; Information and Communication Technologies; Natural Sciences; Service Industries; Social Sciences; and Technology. Students develop an individualized plan for the qualification they wish to pursue and are required to complete 145 competency points in vocational subjects and 35 competency points in general education. Coursework is organized into units, each worth a specific number of competency points. There are six general education units in three areas: communications, math and science, and social and labor market competence. Transversal skills—known as lifelong learning skills in vocational education—are also expected to be integrated into all competence units. Students are also required to participate in work-based learning, which can be organized as an apprenticeship, an internship, a school-based work experience, or a virtual work experience.

Assessment and credentialing

The national core curriculum for basic schools includes criteria and guidelines for assessment with a goal of developing student capacity for self-evaluation. The guidelines encourage students to monitor their own academic progress and design personal learning activities.

At the end of each school year, schools are required to provide students with a report on their academic progress. Until 2021, the report could include a verbal assessment or a numerical grade. In 2021, schools shifted from narrative assessments to numerical grades starting in Grade Four in an effort to provide more consistent feedback. The end-of-year report also provides an assessment of the student’s behavior. Students who fail courses can be retained, although they generally have the opportunity to demonstrate subject mastery by taking a test.

At the end of basic education, schools administer a teacher-developed final assessment guided by national assessment criteria. The assessment is required for Mother Tongue Language and literature, second national language, foreign language, mathematics, science, health education, religion and ethics, history and social studies, and arts and skills subjects (music, visual arts, crafts, physical education, and home economics). Students are graded on a ten-point scale; a grade of five is required to pass. To provide guidance in grading, the National Agency for Education has created assessment criteria and teacher guidance for scores of five (“adequate”), seven (“sufficient”), eight (“good”), and nine (“very good”), with more criteria in development. Students who receive a grade of five or better in all required subjects are awarded a basic education certificate. The certificate shows the student’s grades in each subject and confirms that the student has received guidance counseling and an introduction to career pathways. It also entitles the student to apply to general or vocational upper secondary schools.

The upper secondary school curriculum requires summative assessments as well as teacher-developed formative assessments for subjects. Students receive multiple reports on their progress each year, generally at the end of each six-or seven-week term. The same grading scale (one to ten) that is used for basic schools is used for the upper secondary general schools as well. There are no national guidelines for grading at this level, however.

At the end of upper secondary general school, all students take the Matriculation Examination. This exam has two purposes: it serves as a certification exam for secondary school and is also used for university admission. Students take the exam in five subjects: one required (Mother Tongue Language and literature) and four selected by students from subjects across mathematics, foreign language, science, and humanities. For foreign languages and mathematics, students are required to take at least one test at an advanced level. Currently, certain priority exams, such as advanced math, are weighted more heavily in university admission. To address concerns of policymakers and educators that this policy encourages students to choose weighted exams rather than those in subjects that genuinely interest them, Finland plans to revise this system in 2026.

University admission is highly competitive in Finland, with admission rates below 20 percent in many programs. Because students often apply multiple times to the limited number of university programs before they gain entry, the average age of first-year students is 23. Students apply to university based on their scores from either the Matriculation Exam or one of nine subject-based admission exams used jointly across Finland’s universities. The joint exams were introduced in 2025 as part of Finland’s effort to reform what had been a complex and draining admissions process involving over 100 university-specific admission exams, many of which had required students to do significant work in preparation.

For upper secondary vocational schools, learning units are assessed with written exams, oral exams, practical demonstrations, and projects. Competence assessments use a five-step grading scale, with scores of one to two classified as “satisfactory,” three to four as “good,” and five as “excellent.” Both a qualification certificate and an upper secondary certificate are awarded when a student completes and is assessed as successful in all compulsory and optional study units included in their personal competence development plan.

Digital resources

Finnish schools have embraced and expanded digital resources in their classrooms. Most Finnish textbooks are digital, and many municipalities have invested in online learning platforms for their schools. The Finnish National Agency for Education (the EDUFI) has funded a peer learning network specifically to foster digital competence among teachers and encourage the use of technology in the classroom. The EDUFI also established an online library of digital tools and resources for teachers. Most schools also use a common communication platform, Wilma, to share student assignments, grades, teacher feedback, and other administrative information with families.

Also in 2019, a coalition of six Finnish cities collaborated to develop the DigiOne learning platform for education. DigiOne integrates education services into a single platform to be used by school administrators, families, teachers, and students alike. In partnership with Business Finland, the government office for innovation in business, the coalition’s goal is to expand DigiOne participation to 70 cities and municipalities by 2028.

Learning supports

In 2011, Finland established a three-tier support system for students requiring additional learning support. The first tier, general learning support, is identified and addressed by teachers in their own classrooms. The second two tiers, intensified and special learning supports, are identified through a pedagogical assessment and require an individualized learning plan, which includes part-time or full-time special education classes. By 2024, about 16 percent of students were receiving intensified support and 10 percent special support.

Finland plans to shift away from this system from 2025-2027, starting with basic schools. The new government’s priorities for learning support are flexibility and group support. There will no longer be tiered support, requirements for pedagogical assessment, or individualized learning plans for new students, although those already in place for 2025-2026 will continue. Instead, in pre-primary and basic school, classroom teachers will guide support groups of no more than five students, with special education teachers stepping in to assist if additional support is required. In upper secondary schools, the focus will be on the early identification of students who require additional support and the provision of individualized assistance by teachers and specialists, when needed.

At present, each school designates a group of staff to meet monthly to identify students who require new or continued learning support, as well as discuss the progress of students already receiving services. This group typically consists of the principal, school nurse, special education or learning support teacher, school psychologist, a social worker, and classroom teachers. If the group determines that a student requires support beyond the school’s capacity, it assists the family in securing external professional intervention. It is not yet clear if this approach will be revised as part of the learning support system overhaul.

Advanced learners in Finland are entitled to learning opportunities that meet their needs, but the system relies primarily on individual teachers to differentiate instruction to serve them. Interested students have opportunities to pursue independent learning at any grade level and schools and municipalities offer special after-school or summer enrichment programs.

CTE and Long Life Learning

System Overview

Since the 1990s, Finland has committed to modernizing and expanding its vocational and lifelong learning system. The 1994 Vocational Qualifications Act established a common sequence of competency-based vocational qualifications (initial, further, and specialist) to be earned based on demonstrated skills proficiency, with or without certificates of formal training. In 1998, all upper secondary vocational educational and training (VET) programs were restructured as three-year, full-time programs with a common academic foundation, creating a pathway for graduates to apply to university. Finland also created its system of applied universities to provide a route for technical higher education.

In a next wave of reforms in the mid-2010s, Finland introduced a modular structure for qualifications and made VET available in varied learning environments—including online, in schools, and in workplaces—to encourage broader participation among diverse age groups and to unify the secondary and post-secondary systems. Finland also set a goal for 50 percent of the Finnish population ages 25-34 to attain a post-secondary degree by 2030 and created a performance-based funding system for higher education institutions based in part on furthering this goal. In 2023, Finland committed to expanding training and apprenticeships; improving program quality by increasing direct teaching, workplace instruction, and learning supports; and creating better opportunities and incentives for students to gain micro-credentials.

Vocational education and training (VET) programs in Finland are developed, delivered, and assessed in cooperation with business and industry partners. The National Forum for Skills Anticipation, working on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Finnish National Agency for Education, organizes groups from key industry sectors to monitor, evaluate, and anticipate the development of education and training needs in their sector, making projections about the future labor market and revising them on a regular basis. In 2020, Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture, in partnership with the Ministry of Employment and Training, created a Service Center for Continuous Learning to coordinate anticipatory skills data and training recommendations across both agencies. They also introduced a strategy for continuous learning focused on new training to support the digital transition, address targeted labor needs, and better serve underrepresented populations.

Secondary and Postsecondary CTE

The Ministry of Education and Culture finances and oversees VET, which includes the accreditation of VET schools. Schools develop their programs in cooperation with business and industry partners, which also play a role in program delivery and assessment. With guidance from the Finnish National Agency of Education on required units of study, specialization options, and criteria for assessing student mastery of skills, VET schools prepare their own curricula and work with students and worksite supervisors to create individualized study plans.

For example, students can complete an entire qualification or customize it with a supplementary skill set achieved through a different vocational module. They may proceed through the entire program at their own pace and “place out” of certain units if they demonstrate competence in the relevant skills.

VET is designed to prepare students to earn one of 43 initial vocational qualifications, organized across ten broad areas of study that extend beyond the traditional trades. Each of the initial qualifications indicates competence to enter employment in a particular field. Students have a core set of compulsory general education modules alongside specialized vocational ones. The Finnish National Agency is also planning to add a set of optional modules in sustainable development, financial literacy, and economic understanding to all initial qualifications. Beyond this, young people and adults can earn additional qualifications at the “further” and “specialist” levels that certify an increasingly specialized set of skills. There are 65 further and 56 specialist qualifications within the same ten areas of study.

About 80 percent of the coursework in secondary level VET programs covers the student’s field of choice, with the remaining 20 percent devoted to general education. In addition to coursework, VET programs include on-the-job learning experiences which can take the form of paid apprenticeships or unpaid training agreements between the education provider and the workplace. Some schools provide a simulated workplace or run school-based businesses and enterprises. Once students have completed and passed assessments for all necessary modules, they receive a qualification consisting of a vocational upper secondary certificate and a certificate of skills demonstration. VET graduates can continue their studies and earn further vocational qualifications at VET schools or progress to higher education, either at a university or a university of applied sciences (UAS). Students who plan to apply to university take the same Matriculation Exam or university-based entrance exams as students in general upper secondary school. Students who take the Matriculation Exam often take additional upper secondary general courses to prepare. VET students have the flexibility to add these to their program and extend their learning time as needed.

Higher Education

Finland has two distinct types of universities: research universities and universities of applied sciences (UAS). Universities receive government funding and are barred from profit-making. The multidisciplinary UAS, of which there are more than 20, offer professionally oriented bachelor’s and master’s degrees focused on applied research and technical education closely tied to Finnish industry demands. UAS were created in the 1990s in response to a growing demand for higher education; Finland chose to keep its research universities limited and instead create institutions with a focus on practical work and technical skills.

Finland’s 13 research universities typically admit students into dual degree programs that lead to a master’s degree. There is debate within Finland about elevating the stand-alone bachelor’s degree route to better align educational offerings with labor market demands and expedite entry into the workforce.

Beyond core funding, universities are granted performance-based funding with a strong focus on outcomes. In 2025, Finland introduced a new performance-based funding model that rewards institutions with high numbers of first-time degree students and degree completers, while reducing subsidies for students pursuing additional degrees at the same level. The concern is that public funding should not prioritize funding multiple degrees that do not necessarily position an individual to do better in the labor market than the initial degree. The model also incentivizes doctoral training in high-need fields, such as technology and engineering, and allocates additional supports for student well-being.

Adult Education & Upskilling

Finland has a strong tradition of lifelong learning for adults, particularly through community-based “folk schools” and adult education centers that offer personal development and hobby courses. Adults in Finland can access formal and informal basic education at no cost at these centers, at secondary schools or, increasingly, online. Finland formerly offered a learning living allowance to adults enrolled in full-time programs but discontinued this in 2024 in order to prioritize limited funding for skills-based learning.

Employed and unemployed adults who aim to gain new skills or upgrade their existing ones can enroll in initial and advanced certificate programs at vocational schools or a UAS. These programs do not charge tuition, but some programs have fees. Vocational programs are generally modularized to ensure flexibility with pacing and allow specialization.

Finland has also introduced skills badges and micro-credentials to extend recognition for the skills that adults develop; programs also give credit for prior learning and are based on demonstrated competence. As part of their continuous learning reforms, they are also expanding options for working adults to learn at their workplace.

Joining Forces to Ensure All Learners Thrive

Supports for Young Children and Their Families

Finland offers a wide range of supports to families with young children. Since the 1930s, every mother of a newborn baby has received a box filled with clothes, sheets, toys, diapers, and other essential items. The country has long provided parents with over a year of paid leave. In 2022, Finland reformed parental leave to give parents equal benefits, regardless of gender. For a household with two parents, parental leave of approximately 16 months can be divided flexibly between two parents, and single parents are entitled to take the full allowance.

Health care is a right guaranteed to all Finnish citizens under the constitution. Municipalities manage, fund, and provide primary care under the National Health Insurance system. They also provide specialized health care in regional hospitals, usually in concert with other municipalities. Like all health services in Finland, all prenatal and perinatal care is free of charge, as are annual checkups for children up to age seven. In 2019, the Center party government proposed consolidating the provision of health care into regional authorities rather than the municipalities that currently operate it and allowing more private providers. The plan was an effort to contain rising health care costs for Finland’s aging population, but that plan was defeated amid broad pushback against dismantling a key feature of Finland’s welfare system. Key government leaders resigned as a consequence.

Finland also makes direct payments to families with children under age 17, which increase for each child. Single parents receive an extra supplement.

Historically, all children in Finland have had a right to subsidized early childhood services from birth to age six, when compulsory school starts. Parents who chose to care for their children at home also received a childcare allowance. However, in 2016, a new law ended equal access to these services. Now, children whose parents are not students or full-time workers have only a 20-hour per week entitlement to subsidized care and have no right to subsidized part-time care (which parents typically use as a supplement to half-day pre-primary education). Children are more likely to participate in care outside the home as they age. As of 2017, 1 percent of children under age one participated in ECEC, while 31 percent of one-year-olds, 59 percent of two-year-olds, and 79 percent of three- to five-year-olds participated.

Supports for School Aged Children

Finnish schools provide many important resources and services for their students, including a daily hot meal, psychological counseling, and health and dental services.

The Ministry of Education and Culture allocates additional funds for immigrant students who have been living in Finland for less than four years, for low-income students, for students in single parent families, and for students with parents who are unemployed or undereducated. Municipalities can distribute these funds to schools as they deem appropriate. Since 2016, the government has also invested significant funds into additional supports for new immigrants, including improved training for teachers.

Finnish law also requires instruction in Finnish, Swedish, or Sami, depending on students’ native language. Deaf or hard of hearing students are given instruction in sign language.

High-Capacity Educators

Teachers

Recruitment and retention

Finnish teacher education programs, like most graduate programs in Finland, are highly selective, though their popularity has waned in the last decade. In the mid-2010s the acceptance rate to these programs was less than one in ten. As of 2023 it is roughly one in six. Admission procedures for teacher preparation programs vary, but most include an entrance examination, assessment of aptitude, and a review of upper secondary school records and extracurricular activity involvement. Applicants to teacher-education programs must earn competitive scores on either the Matriculation Exam or a specialized Vakava teacher-education program entrance exam (one of the nine specialized admissions exams), which is a take-home test that assesses critical thinking, knowledge of the education sciences, and research and analysis skills. Applicants who progress beyond the first screening round must then pass a second round, which includes an interview and simulated teacher observation.

Teaching is a highly regarded, well-respected profession in Finland. Basic school teachers are paid slightly less than peer professionals in other fields; upper secondary teachers are paid more. Finland boasts low teacher attrition and turnover rates, with an estimated 90 percent of educators remaining in the profession for the duration of their careers.

Preparation and induction

In the 1970s, Finland moved teacher education from teachers’ colleges into universities and introduced a master’s degree requirement. This change reduced the number of programs so that today, only eight universities offer traditional teacher education programs. Basic school teacher training is structured as an integrated five-year program leading to a bachelor’s and master’s degree. Students major in education, with a minor in two primary school curriculum subject areas. Prospective secondary school teachers also study for five years; they earn a master’s degree in the subject they intend to teach, which includes a year of study about how to teach that subject within that department.. Student teachers for both basic and upper secondary schools complete a research thesis on a topic of their choice and spend a full year teaching in a university-affiliated training school before graduation. Training schools have the same curricular and teaching requirements as other municipal public schools, but their schedules are designed to accommodate the feedback and collaboration needs of student-teachers and mentors without affecting the learning time of students.

Finland has comparatively high standards for early education teachers and vocational teachers. Lead teachers and heads of childcare centers in Finland hold bachelor’s degrees. One-third of a childcare center’s staff is required to be educated at this level, and Finland has set a goal for two-thirds to hold at least a bachelor’s degree by 2030. Vocational teachers are required to hold a degree (or have the highest available qualification) related to the area they teach from a university or a university of applied sciences (UAS), in addition to three years of work experience. They also must complete a competency-based vocational teaching program at a UAS. Only five UAS offer these programs and admission is highly competitive. The program typically lasts one to two years, depending on whether a student is full-time or part-time. Students can place out of some requirements to streamline the program length.

Roles and career progression

The Finnish system emphasizes school and teacher autonomy, and as a result, the teaching profession does not have a clearly defined career ladder. Teachers have control over their classrooms, lesson plans, and hours outside of teaching. Following the introduction of a new curriculum incorporating required multidisciplinary learning modules in 2016, the government created a tutor-teacher position for all basic schools to provide peer-to-peer guidance and support on the implementation of curricular changes. The government has since funded tutor-teachers to provide peer support for additional national priorities such as digital literacy and AI use in the classroom. Some cities, including Helsinki, are piloting new teacher leader positions in schools, like assistant principals or department heads. These roles are intended to relieve the burden on the school principal.

Evaluation and professional learning

The Finnish government funds professional development for teachers as a way of implementing key national policy goals. In 2024, for example, the government funded €15.4 million ($17.9 million) in training focused on topics such as how to teach transversal skills across interdisciplinary areas, key principles of classroom-based assessment, skills needed to use digital technologies to enhance teaching, and linking key science concepts to sustainability issues. This training is provided by teacher preparation institutions or by “tutor” (lead) teachers at different schools or groups of schools.

Collective bargaining agreements require municipalities to fund one to five days of professional development for teachers; they can specify the topics or organize large, multi-school training events, or, alternatively, give schools or even teachers the authority to organize their own in-service programs. Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) data from 2018 indicate that the average Finnish teacher spends seven days per year on professional development, despite there being no financial incentives to do so. Universities organize many of the workshops and provide much of the training that teachers can choose to attend. Teachers in Finland also have significant planning time built into their schedules that they can spend at their discretion.

Educators are expected to use professional judgment, take collective responsibility for the education of their students, and be accountable to their peers. There are no formal evaluations for teachers in Finland; however, some municipalities, such as Helsinki, encourage principals to use a common format developed by the municipal office to appraise exceptional teacher practice.

Leaders

Roles and responsibilities

The local municipal authority in any given region appoints principals for a specified term, which may be fixed or indefinite. Once appointed, the principal is responsible for managing the school, including its staff, budget, and the well-being and success of its students. Principals generally work in close collaboration with teachers, and in smaller schools, sometimes serve as educators themselves. There is no national set of standards for principals; however, principals have significant autonomy and are viewed as responsible for implementing national priorities in their schools.

Recruitment, preparation and development

Principals must be qualified to teach at the level of school they lead and have one of three additional qualifications: a Certificate of Educational Administration issued by the EDUFI, which certifies knowledge of Finnish educational law and policies; completion of a program in Educational Leadership at a university; or experience in educational administration. In practice, almost no principals are hired without a Certificate of Educational Administration or a qualification in Education Leadership from a university, and the university qualification tends to be much more highly valued. Vice principals generally have the same qualifications. Municipalities, which conduct principal hiring, can specify additional candidate requirements relevant to the local context.

University programs in Educational Leadership typically last 18 months, and candidates can enroll part-time while maintaining their teaching duties. The curriculum at the University of Jyväskylä, for example, focuses on management and leadership issues, requires students to participate in weekend seminars, and mandates student participation in a field practicum at a cooperating school. The practicum consists of five field visits, each focused on a different aspect of the principal’s job. Senior principals (many of whom are themselves doctoral students with a goal of working in academia, the Ministry, or in other leadership roles) guide student discussions. In addition to taking a final exam, students must develop and present a personal leadership philosophy based on their own research and experience in the program.