Education and Training Monitor 2024

1. Learning for sustainability

Sustainable development is included in Finland’s education strategy for 2030¹. The National Agency for Education (EDUFI) is currently implementing the roadmap for its Agenda 2030 (EDUFI, 2024). This roadmap sets out three broad areas for learning for sustainability (LfS) in early childhood education and care (ECEC), pre-primary, primary and secondary education: cognitive, socioemotional, and action oriented. The Ministry of Education and Culture (MINEDU) has not yet conducted any assessment or evaluation in primary and lower secondary education on learning for sustainability. The promotion of socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable development is listed among the strategic goals for the next evaluation plan period (2024–2027) of the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC)².

Finland takes a holistic approach to sustainability skills in the curriculum (European Commission / EACEA / Eurydice, 2024). The Finnish curricula for ECEC was drawn up in 2014, while the curricula for primary and secondary education were drawn up in 2022. These curricula introduce the theme of sustainability by using the term ‘sustainable way of living’, and by considering the social, cultural, economic, and ecological dimensions of sustainability. ‘Participation, influence and building a sustainable future’ is one of seven transversal skills areas in the curriculum for primary and lower secondary education. The national core curricula for general upper secondary education (EDUFI, 2019) uses the term ‘sustainable development’.

The 2022-2026 programme for developing teacher education states that sustainability expertise is one of the necessary skills a teacher must have (MINEDU, 2022). EDUFI funds activities for continuing professional development (CPD) to train teachers on how to teach about issues such as: (i) strengthening a sustainable lifestyle and climate responsibility; (ii) preventing nature loss; and (iii) promoting the earth’s health and a circular economy ³. The activities cover: knowledge; skills; attitudes and values; innovative pedagogical methods; the use of digital tools; and new technologies (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2024). The EDUFI web page also provides links and further information on the topic as well as examples of good practice. The Finnish education authorities have also released a guide on how to develop learning, school culture and everyday sustainable practices ⁴. They have also created a network of schools running sustainability projects and offering support and coaching to participating teachers and school leaders ⁵. FEE Suomi ⁶, the Finnish branch of the Foundation for Environmental Education ⁷, coordinates the international Green Flag programme in Finland, awarding certificates to ECEC centres, schools, and other actors within education that are exemplary in their practice and promotion of sustainability. FEE Suomi also prepares and provides learning materials, and organises, in collaboration with related actors, free in-service training for teachers and ECEC personnel.

All Finnish vocational education and training (VET) institutions include sustainability in all their actions. The 2022-2023 Vocational Education Sustainable Development and Green Transition Development Programme supported Finland’s efforts to achieve the global Agenda 2030 objectives in VET, and addressed the challenges posed by climate change ⁸. One of the objectives of the Programme is for all VET institutions to be carbon neutral by 2035 ⁹. For example, in the Responsible and Sustainable VET (VASKI) project, VET providers in Finland: (i) prepared their own sustainable development programmes; (ii) organised skills-development events; (iii) trained teachers; and (iv) carried out carbon-footprint calculations. The Finnish roadmap for sustainability of VET was completed in 2023, and EDUFI organised a series of webinars for education providers to support its implementation.

2. Early childhood education and care

Finland aims to expand participation in ECEC. The Finnish government’s policy programme lists as one of the key objectives of its term the improvement of the quality of – and participation in – ECEC (VN, 2023). ECEC participation in the country reached 89% for children aged 3 up to compulsory schooling age in 2022, and ECEC participation of children under the age of 3 was 43.9% in 2023. These figures are well below the EU average (93.1%) and the EU-level target of 96% ¹⁰ for participation of children aged between 3 and compulsory schooling age. For the participation in formal childcare of children under 3, Finland’s figures are also well below the revised Barcelona target of 45%. To foster participation in ECEC, in particular by low-income households, the government has lowered the fees for ECEC ¹¹. As a result of the amendment, approximately 30 000 additional families gained access to free ECEC. Around half of all children enrolled in ECEC attend it free of charge. The fact that some municipalities have decided to replace smaller ECEC centres with bigger ones has raised significant criticism from both affected families and childcare professionals (HS, 2023a; 2023b; 2023c).

Although ECEC services are generally of high quality, there is a lack of ECEC teachers, especially in the Helsinki metropolitan area. To address this shortage, the available study places in ECEC teacher education will be increased in 2024/2025 ¹². According to KEVA (public-sector pension provider), in 2022 ¹³ there was a shortage of approximately 6 000 ECEC teachers nationwide. Shortage of ECEC teachers is more relevant in the Helsinki metropolitan area, where more than 4 000 ECEC teachers are needed.

A national evaluation of the Finnish ECEC system recommends a clearer system of professional profiles for ECEC staff and greater support for the wellbeing of staff in the sector. Between 2022 and 2023, the National Education Evaluation Centre (Karvi) carried out an evaluation of ECEC staff training and skills (FINEEC, 2024a, 2024b). The assessment focused on all training courses that offer recognised qualifications ¹⁴ under the Early Childhood Education and Care Act (540/2018) for teaching, care and managing positions in ECEC. The evaluation concluded that there is still some confusion about the skills profiles of different professional groups working in ECEC, and this confusion is partly visible in the overlapping contents of programmes to train ECEC teachers. The evaluation recommends that VET providers, universities of applied sciences, and ordinary universities should together continue to clarify: (i) the skills profiles of qualifications and degrees; and (ii) the development of teaching content in the ECEC sector (FINEEC, 2024b). The evaluation also highlighted increasing challenges in wellbeing faced by students studying to become ECEC teachers and the need to be better supported during their studies (FINEEC, 2024a).

3. School education

The latest OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 confirms that there has been a decline in the basic skills of Finnish students in the past decade. This declining trend has further deteriorated since 2018. The proportion of 15-year-old students underachieving in basic skills has steadily increased since 2012. The percentage of students who are underachievers increased by 12.6 pps in mathematics (compared with an average increase in underperformers in the EU over this period of only +7.3 pps); 10.1 pps in reading (EU average increase of +8.2 pps), and 10.6 pps in science (EU average increase of +7.4 pps). The average performance drop since 2012 corresponds roughly to 20 score points. While in 2018, the shares of Finnish students with low basic skills were still below the EU target of 15% in all three areas tested, in 2022 more than 15% of Finnish students had low basic skills in all three areas. But despite this deterioration in performance, the percentage of students with low basic skills in Finland remains below the EU average. Compared to 2018, the gap between the highest-scoring students and the weakest students widened in all three tested subjects (OECD, 2024; Hiltunen et al., 2023). PISA 2022 also showed greater variation in performance both between and within schools, with Swedish-speaking schools also showing better overall outcomes than Finnish-speaking ones. In addition to other national and international evidence, the PISA survey has become one of the main tools for long-term monitoring of learning outcomes at secondary education level.

Underachievement has been growing across the entire socio-economic distribution in recent years but is more pronounced in the bottom socio-economic quartile. In 2022, 38.7% of disadvantaged students (those coming from families in the bottom income quartile) underachieved in mathematics compared with only 24.5% in 2018 and 19.9% in 2012. The percentage of students who are top performers has also decreased since 2012. Nevertheless, Finland has the highest share in the EU of students who are top performers in science (12.7% vs EU average of 6.9%). Despite a significant increase in recent years, the socio-economic gap between top performers remains one of the smallest in the EU (28.1 pps vs 37.2 pps at EU level). However, underachievement among foreign-born students in Finland is one the highest in the EU with 57.2% of students born outside Finland underachieving. The underachievement rates also remain high for native-born students with parents born abroad (43.2%) in comparison to students without a migrant background (only 22% of whom underperform). With only 6.8% of 15-year olds participating in PISA 2022 having a migrant background, their statistical impact on the overall results is however limited.

Further research is needed to identify the key drivers behind the decline in academic performance by Finnish students. Apart from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers point to several possible factors, such as: (i) the use of digital devices during lessons for activities other than learning tasks; (ii) the increase in the overall share of students with an immigrant background in schools (up from 2.7% in 2002 to 9.2% in 2022); and (iii) the possible side effects of ‘phenomenon-based instruction’ ¹⁵ or the emphasis on self-regulated learning (rather than teacher-driven learning) (Hiltunen et al., 2023; Uusitalo, 2023; Vihriälä, 2023; SK, 2024). Some of these issues were already raised in the analyses of previous PISA results (Kirjavainen & Pulkkinen, 2017). Studies show that the COVID-19 pandemic affected students’ wellbeing, support needs, social skills and learning motivation, especially for those students who lacked sufficient parental support for their learning. The current government’s policy programme has identified a need to improve basic skills and support measures such as: (i) spending more teaching time on reading, writing and numeracy in early education; and (ii) reforming the legislation on learning support. The MINEDU has gathered a wide range of researchers and experts to examine the reasons for the continuing decline in basic skills and provide recommendations on future development needs in education by 2025.

The proportion of early leavers from education and training (ELET) significantly increased in 2023. Finland’s average ELET rate was 9.6% in 2023 ¹⁶, close to the EU average of 9.5%, but 1.2 pps higher than in 2022. It increased for both young men (+1.6 pps) and young women (+0.9 pps). At regional level, there was a significant increase in ELET rates in all regions, notably in the Pohjois-ja region in eastern Finland (from 8.8% to 12%) ¹⁷. Compared with 2022, there was a significant increase in ELET rates in towns, suburbs, and rural areas, while ELET rates in cities remained stable. Interestingly, the ELET rates of native-born young people increased (from 7.6% in 2022 to 9.3% 2023), while the rates for foreign-born young people decreased (from 16.3% to 12.9%) ¹⁸.

Finland is investing to remedy its shortage of teachers. In addition to the shortage of ECEC teachers, there are also shortages of special-needs teachers in southern Finland and in northern Finland. Because of increased immigration, there is growing demand for teachers of Finnish/Swedish as a second/foreign language. To meet this challenge, significant additional funding has been allocated to universities to meet the educational need for ECEC teachers and special-needs teachers. Since 2018, MINEDU has granted additional funding of around EUR 35 million (enough to fund about 1 700 additional student places) for teacher education in ECEC. An additional EUR 17.32 million will also be allocated in 2024-2028 to increase the number of study places for teacher education in ECEC. In December 2023, MINEDU granted approximately EUR 2 million in additional funding for additional training of special-needs education teachers as well as study counsellors in Swedish. In February 2024, more than EUR 40 million was allocated to increase study places in several fields, including ECEC teachers.

Figure 1: Underachievement rates by field, PISA 2012, 2018 and 2022 (%)

4. Vocational education and training

Finland has a relatively large VET sector, with 70.4% of the students in medium-level education attending programmes with a vocational orientation (2022 data) ²¹. In 2023, 76.7% of recent graduates had experienced work-based learning (above the EU average of 64.5%) ²². And 80.6% of recent VET graduates were in employment in 2023, close to the EU average of 81.0% ²³.

Finland’s updated national implementation plan (NIP) for education addresses EU priorities and seeks to achieve national objectives in VET and lifelong learning. The NIP (adopted in 2022) was updated in February 2024 ²⁴. It was fine-tuned to cater for demographic change and its varying effects, including: (i) the accessibility of VET its responsiveness to the needs of the labour market; (ii) changes in working lives; and (iii) shortages of skilled labour. The NIP calls for improvements in areas such as: (i) making VET more attractive; (ii) stressing the importance of teaching transferrable skills in VET that can be used in a variety of workplaces; (iii) using the opportunities offered by digitalisation; (iv) ensuring VET is adapted to the needs of working life and capable of continuously developing vocational skills regardless of age; and (v) addressing the increasing segregation (according to which VET students are more likely to come from low-income backgrounds) and improve guidance and support (CEDEFOP, 2024) ²⁵.

Finland is working on measures to increase the flexibility of vocational qualifications for both ‘further’ (EQF 4) and ‘specialist’ (EQF 5) VET qualifications. It is also working to strengthen the teaching of skills required for the digital and green transitions and promotes the use of ‘microcredentials’ ²⁶.

International mobility in VET is recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic but has not yet reached the pre-pandemic level of 2019. In 2023, 71% of Finnish VET providers offered international mobility to their learners as part of internationalisation. A total of 3 724 VET learners went abroad for study-related periods. This is 38% more than in 2022 but less than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 ²⁷. Finland received 2 437 international students in 2023, which is 29% more than one year before. In 2023, 8.8% from all 16- 25-year-old VET learners completed a mobility period abroad and 5.8% came to Finland. A total 3 105 VET teachers or other personnel went for a period abroad related to their training or work. Around 4 out of 5 mobility activities organised by Finnish VET institutions were supported by Erasmus+.

The reform of continuous learning was concluded in 2023, and it aims to develop opportunities for people of all ages to develop their skills throughout their careers and lives. In its sustainable growth programme for Finland, the government allocated EUR 66 million to reform Finland’s system of continuous learning. It also allocated additional resources to: (i) digitalise continuous learning to develop e-services; (ii) advance the digital transformation of higher education; and (iii) improve opportunities for flexible learning (Cedefop and ReferNet, 2023a).

5. Higher education

Tertiary educational attainment (TEA) in Finland has been stagnating for years. In 2023, TEA rates were 39.2% (1.5 pps less than in 2022), below both the EU average of 43.1% ²⁸ and the EU-level target of 45%. This rate has been relatively stable over the last 10 years at around 40%. Regional differences in TEA rates remain significant (varying from 34.6% to 44.7%) ²⁹. The gap in TEA by country of birth is also significant (a 26.1% TEA rate for foreign-born people in Finland vs 41.6% for native-born students) ³⁰. There is a persistent and significant gender gap in TEA of 13.4 pps in favour of women (46.1% vs 32.7% in 2023). This gap is greater than the EU average (11.2 pps). Finland’s 2024 Bildung review highlights ³¹ that educational attainment in the Helsinki-Uusimaa region is significantly higher than in the rest of the country. The proportion of the adult population that has completed only basic education (primary and lower-upper secondary education) is about 25% in the whole country with small regional differences.

Student mobility, although recovering, is still far behind the pre-pandemic peak years. In 2023, higher-education students in Finland completed a total of just over 10 000 stays abroad, counting both long-term (around 2/3 total) and short-term periods. Compared with 2022, the total number of mobility periods completed increased by 21%, or 1 750 periods (a 68% increase for short-term mobility periods). The European Commission proposed in November 2023 that EU Member States set a goal of having 25% of higher education graduates complete a study period abroad as part of their degrees by 2030. The EU’s Erasmus+ programme continues to play an important role in student mobility, providing support to 67% of outgoing students from Finland and 78% of incoming students coming to Finland. The popularity of virtual mobility ³³ is increasing. In 2023, the mobility periods of 10% of outgoing students and 9% of incoming students included a virtual component. In 2023, Finland had more incoming students (just over 11 000) than outgoing exchange students (around 10 000 Finnish students) ³⁴.

Figure 2: Outward learning mobility rate in higher education, 2022 (%)

The demand for tertiary education graduates is increasing, and there is a particularly acute need for more experts in the engineering and service sectors. Nearly half of the current Finnish workforce will retire between now and 2040. Engineering and the social and health sector will experience the largest wave of retirements ³⁵. In addition, new job openings will require a higher level of education than that held by most workers currently. It is estimated that 47% of Finland’s future workforce should have vocational education, 30% should have completed studies at universities of applied science, and 22% should have a traditional university education. The greatest need for additional education is in the field of engineering, requiring between 16 500 and 19 000 new degrees annually. Currently, significantly fewer degrees (13 500) are being completed in this field, requiring a 22-41% increase from the current level. Nevertheless, Finland has one of the highest proportions in the EU of graduates in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), per 1 000 of population aged 20-29 ³⁶ (26.5% in 2022 vs 23% EU average). However, the share of female STEM graduates in Finland is below EU average (32.2% of all STEM graduates vs 35.4% in 2022) ³⁷.

6. Adult learning

The participation rate in adult learning is high in Finland, although it has not yet reached the 2030 national target of 60%. According to the 2022 Adult Education Survey, for the population group aged 25-64, the participation rate in the last 12 months was 51.8% (EU average 39.5%) ³⁸. Improving the basic skills of Finnish adults is one of the areas in which progress has recently been made. The Finnish National Agency for Education recently developed a set of 32 national skills badges in the field of non-formal adult education for adult basic skills to raise awareness of basic skills and offer alternative pathways to education for potential learners not currently being reached by the system. The aim of the skills badges is to promote the basic skills needed in the world of work and to increase employability ³⁹. The process for gaining skills badges should be flexible and it should be possible to gain these badges in parallel while still doing a full-time job ⁴⁰. The issued badges will be included in the National Registry and Data Transfer Service for Study Rights and Completed Studies (KOSKI) from 1 August 2024.