Educational Policies in

Finland
Hello!
We are Farida and Nigar
 1
Finland and its
achievements
“ Finland is an innovative country when it
comes to education, and it's innovation
yields results.
Pre-primary
Education
● Pre-primary education is voluntary and intended for six-
year-olds, who will start their compulsory education in
the following year.
● It is provided in day care centers falling under the
administrative field of the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Health and comprehensive schools, either in separate
pre-primary classes or in combined classes.
● Pre-primary education, meals, health care and travel, if
the distance exceeds 5 kilometers, are provided free of
charge.
Basic Education
● Compulsory education starts in the year when a child has his/her seventh
birthday, unless the child needs special needs education.
● Basic education is free of charge for pupils. Textbooks and other
materials, tools etc. are free of charge and pupils are offered a free daily
meal.
● In addition, school health care and other welfare services are free to the
pupils.
● The education should promote learning and equality in society as well as
acquiring knowledge and skills that the students need in studying and
developing themselves later in life.
● Education also aims at guaranteeing sufficient equality in education
throughout the country.
Who is
responsible?
● The Finnish national education administration is
organised at two levels.
● Education policy is responsibility of the Ministry of
Education and Culture. A national agency, the
Finnish National Board of Education, is
responsible for the implementation of the policy aims.
It works with the Ministry to develop educational
objectives, content and methods for early childhood,
pre-primary, basic, upper secondary and adult
education.
The Finnish National
Board of Education
determines the national core curriculum for pre-primary and basic education as well
as the qualification requirements for vocational education and training. These that
contain the objectives and core contents of different subjects, as well as the principles
of assessment, special needs education, pupil welfare and educational guidance. The
national core curricula and qualification requirements are renewed approximately
every ten years.
Two-tier national
administration
Ministry of Education and Finish National Agency for
Culture
● Education policy
● Preparation of legislation
● State funding
Education
● National development
agency
● National core curricula &
qualification requirements
● Support for evidence-based
policy-making
● Support for reform and
development
● Services for learners
Local and Municipal
Autonomy
Local administration is the
responsibility of local authorities,
most commonly municipalities or
joint municipal authorities. Local
education providers are
responsible for practical teaching
arrangements as well as the
effectiveness and quality of its
education. These make the
decisions on allocation of
funding, local curricula and
recruitment of personnel. 
The municipalities have also the
autonomy to delegate the decision-
making power to the schools. The
schools have the right to provide
educational services according to
their own administrative
arrangements and visions, as long as
the basic functions, determined by
law, are carried out. In many cases
for example budget management,
acquisitions and recruitment is the
responsibility of the schools.
 Local
● Educational priorities
● Local curricula
Central ● Allocation of subsidies
● Educational priorities ● Class size
● Minimum time allocation ● Recruitment
● National core curricula ● Teacher ”evaluation”
● Size of state subsidies ● Quality assurance
In Finland, teaching is one of the most
revered professions with a relatively
high barrier to entry.
● Only one in 10 students who apply to teacher
education programs are admitted, according to
the Center on International Education Benchmarking
(CIEB).
● Teachers in Finland are treated like professors at
universities, and they teach fewer hours during the
day than US teachers, with more time devoted to
lesson planning.
● They also get paid
slightly more in
Finland. The average
teacher in the US
makes about $41,000
a year, compared to
$43,000 in Finland,
according to OECD
data.
Equal access to high-quality
education
One of the basic The current thinking in Guidance and
principles of Finnish Finland is that the counselling is seen as
education is that all potential of each pupil the work of all
people must have should be maximised. education personnel.
equal access to high- Therefore educational Today all pupils and
quality education and guidance is seen as students have the right
training. The same essential to help every to educational support.
opportunities to pupil and student to
education should be perform as well as
available to all citizens possible in their
irrespective of their studies.
ethnic origin, age,
wealth or where they
live.
“ In Finland school inspections were abolished in
the early 1990s. The ideology is to steer
through information, support and funding. The
activities of education providers are guided by
objectives laid down in legislation as well as the
national core curricula and qualification
requirements. The system relies on the
proficiency of teachers and other personnel.
Free
education
In Finland education is free at all levels from
pre-primary to higher education. In pre-
primary and basic education the textbooks,
daily meals and transportation for students
living further away from the school are free for
the parents. At upper secondary level and in
higher education the students themselves or
their parents purchase their own books. At
secondary level the students have the right to
a free meal and in higher education meals are
subsidised by state. 

Adult education is the only form of education

that may require payment. To ensure the
opportunities to study for everyone there is a
well-developed system of study grants and
loans. Financial aid can be awarded for full-
What do the high-performing
school systems have in common?
How can Azerbaijan use this strategy?
 They get the right people to become
teachers.

They develop these people into

effective instructors.

They put in place systems and targeted

support to ensure that every child is able to
benefit from excellent instruction.
McKinsey&Company2007: How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top, p.13
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