The educational system in Finland consists of daycare programmes (for babies and toddlers), a one-year "preschool" (age six), and an 11-year compulsory basic comprehensive school (age seven to age eighteen). As of 2024, secondary general academic and vocational education, higher education and adult education are compulsory.
Finland's education policy is built on 5 principles:1-Common, consistent long term policies,2-A vision of a knowledge-based society,3-Educational Equality,4-Decision making at the local level,5-Culture of Trust..During their nine years of common basic education, students are not selected, tracked, or streamed. There is also inclusive special education within the classroom and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement. After basic education, students must choose to continue with secondary education in either an academic track (lukio) or a vocational track (ammattioppilaitos), both of which usually take three years and give a qualification to continue to tertiary education. Tertiary education is divided into university and polytechnic (ammattikorkeakoulu, also known as "university of applied sciences") systems. Universities award licentiate- and doctoral-level degrees. Formerly, only university graduates could obtain higher (postgraduate) degrees, however, since the implementation of the Bologna process, all bachelor's degree holders can now qualify for further academic studies. There are 17 universities and 27 universities of applied sciences in the country.
The United Nations Development Programme derived an Education Index, a reflection of mean years of schooling of adults and expected years of schooling of children, that placed Finland fourth in the world as of 2019.
Finland has consistently ranked high in the PISA study, which compares national educational systems internationally, although in the recent years Finland has been displaced from the very top. In the 2012 study, Finland ranked sixth in reading, twelfth in mathematics and fifth in science, while back in the 2003 study Finland was first in both science and reading and second in mathematics. Finland's tertiary Education has moreover been ranked first by the World Economic Forum.
On the other hand, domestically a decline in the learning outcomes has long been pointed out, and in 2023, Ministry of Education and Culture published a report called bildung review, in which it admitted that the exceptionally rapid drop in the reading and mathematics proficiency has been observed.
In another international assessment called TIMSS, the results of Finland has constantly been mediocre.
While celebrated for its overall success, Finland had a gender gap on the 2012 PISA reading standards identified in a 2015 Brookings Institution report, but this can be put down to many factors such as the choice of the field of work into which each gender goes. The performance of 15-year-old boys then was not significantly different from OECD averages and was 0.66 of a standard deviation behind that of girls the same age.
The governments of Jyrki Katainen, Alexander Stubb and Juha Sipilä cut education funds in Finland over 2011–2018 by a total of €1.5 billion. The number of university and college employees was cut by more than 7500.Suomen kuvalehti Koulutus säästökuurilla, 2018-04-27, pages 23–25
History
Literacy is a key part of Lutheranism, the state and majority religion of Finland, as Christians are supposed to be able to read the Bible in their native language. Bishop Mikael Agricola studied under Martin Luther and translated the New Testament to Finnish in 1548. The first university in Finland (Royal Academy of Turku) was founded in 1640. Literacy reached over 50% in the late 18th century and 80–90% in the mid-19th century. Where there were no schools in a municipality, reading was taught in traveling schools (kiertokoulu). Confirmation, a rite of transition to adulthood, is only permissible for the literate, and enables e.g. entrance into marriage. Official statistics are available from 1880, when literacy was 97.6%. The early system under Swedish rule was in Swedish and consisted of a basic "pedagogio" for teaching reading and writing, a trivial school teaching grammar, Latin, Greek, rhetoric and dialectics, a gymnasium preparing for university, and the university. In the 19th century, the system evolved into what was later known as kansakoulu ("people's school") and oppikoulu ("learning school"), including high school (lukio), followed by university. In mid-19th century, Finnish became an official language, and gradually replaced Swedish as the schooling language. In 1898, everyone was given the right to attend kansakoulu. Attendance reached 50% in 1911 and became mandatory in 1921; municipalities were obliged to provide the schooling.Valtasaari (toim.): Kansakoulu 1866–1966, p. 133. Free school lunches became mandatory in 1948. Oppikoulu, entered at the age of 10, was still optional and entrance was competitive. Since it was the only way to university education and entrance was heavily affected by the status and choices of parents, it severely limited the opportunities of the less-well off. Working-class people would often complete only the kansakoulu and enter the workforce. This system was phased out in 1972–1977 in favor of the modern system where years 1–9 are mandatory. After the age of 15, the system bifurcates into academic (lukio) and vocational tracks (ammattioppilaitos) both at the secondary and tertiary levels. Recently, it became formally possible to enter tertiary education with a vocational degree, although this is practically difficult as the vocational study plan does not prepare the student for the university entrance exams.
Early childhood education In Finland, high class daycare and nursery-kindergarten are considered critical for developing the cooperation and communication skills important to prepare young children for lifelong education, as well as formal learning of reading and mathematics. This preparatory period lasts until the age of 7. Finnish early childhood education emphasizes respect for each child's individuality and chance for each child to develop as a unique person. Finnish early educators also guide children in the development of social and interactive skills, encourage them to pay attention to other people's needs and interests, to care about others, and to have a positive attitude toward other people, other cultures, and different environments. The purpose of gradually providing opportunities for increased independence is to enable all children to take care of themselves as "becoming adults, to be capable of making responsible decisions, to participate productively in society as an active citizen, and to take care of other people who will need his (or her) help."Anneli Niikko, "Finnish Daycare: Caring, Education and Instruction", in Nordic Childhoods and Early Education: Philosophy, Research, Policy and Practice in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, Series: International Perspectives on Educational Policy, Research (Information Age Publishing Inc., 2006), 141 To foster a culture of reading, parents of newborn babies are given three books - one for each parent, and a baby book for the child - as part of the "maternity package."According to Eeva Penttilä, Director of International Relations for the Finland Education Department (City of Helsinki), "When a child is born in Finland, every mother gets a box (maternity package) from the Mother Care Center which consists of the first bed the baby has...[and]... three books. There is a book for the mother, a book for the father, and a book for the baby. Of course the baby book has...mainly those faces that babies easily can see. This indicates to the parents that for this new member of the family, you have to read. Reading to the baby is so important. I was amazed when I read somewhere that when you consider our population, we produce more children's books than any other country does. One thing you can't do here is to buy good education for your child. Everything is free including universities. Every child is a self made person in this kind of a system because whatever your background is, you can make it but if you don't make it, whatever your father is, you will drop down because we do not have this elite. The school meals are also free... Education isn't even free in China. If I count the taxation from my salary, it goes somewhere about 60 percent. I am a happy taxpayer because my grandchildren get everything they need for free." Eeva Penttilä, quoted in Leo R. Sandy, "Education in Finland", New Hampshire Journal of Learning Vol. 10 (April 2007) According to Finnish child development specialist Eeva Hujala, "Early education is the first and most critical stage of lifelong learning. Neurological research has shown that 90% of brain growth occurs during the first five years of life, and 85% of the nerve paths develop before starting school (NB: at the age of seven in Finland)."Hujala continues, "Early education has also been shown to be economically and socially beneficial. The long term benefit of early education exceeds the economic costs. In addition, children's participation in early childhood education is a significant promoter of social equality (Kajonoja, 2005; Woodhead, 2004). The effectiveness of early childhood education on both on children's social and cognitive development has been demonstrated. For instance, the results of the PISA of 2003 demonstrated the long-term effects of early childhood education on school achievement, including the fact that children who had participated in early childhood education performed significantly better in mathematics in secondary school. French research, on the other hand, has demonstrated a connection between participation in early childhood education and experiences of success in the lower school (El Pan-European Structure Policy on ECE ). The connection between early childhood education and school success was highly significant among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Thus, early childhood education is a significant source for enhancing social equality. Longitudinal studies have demonstrated that the effectiveness of early childhood education lies in its ability to promote children's communication and cooperation skills. See Eeva Hujala, "The Development of Early Childhood as an Academic Discipline in Finland", Nordic Early Childhood Education Research, Vol. 1, no. 1 (2008). "Care" in this context is synonymous with upbringing and is seen as a cooperative endeavor between parents and society to prepare children physically (eating properly, keeping clean) and mentally (communication, social awareness, empathy, and self-reflection) before beginning more formal learning at age seven. The idea is that before seven they learn best through play, so by the time they finally get to school they are keen to start learning.