Special Features of the Finnish Education System: Vocational Education

Lauri Kurvonen gave a presentation on Finland's vocational education sector.

The notes of the presentation are as follows:

• 7-8% of students in vocational education take the matriculation examination
• initial vocational education, but also specialist vocational qualifications, mainly for adults
• last year of comprehensive school -- general application to "second step" -- student expresses their interests if they want to go to vocational education
• the yhteishaku is based on marks from school, a nationwide application
• it is now internet-based
• make three preferences, either vocational education and training (VET) or gymnasium
• polytechnic -- higher education in the vocational sector
• 1990s -- changed VET to 3 years
• VET -- 10% take classes in the gymnasium and 8% take the matriculation exam
• 5% of students in university have a VET background
• 25% of students in polytechnics have an academic background
• VET -- 2 ways to do initial VET, from school or passing skills tests, aimed at adults with working experience
• also further qualifications, similar to the NVQ in the UK
• approximately 60,000 students leave comprehensive school per year -- 45% to VET, 50% to gymnasium, 4-5% do not go directly to upper-secondary school, 1-2% take an additional year in comprehensive school

General objectives of VET

• knowledge and skills necessary for vocational competence and employment
• knowledge skills needed in further studies and lifelong learning
• 1/3 general subjects in VET

Finland

• fast industrialization post-World War II
• needed a way to produce skilled labor
• Finnish government supported training
• VET only way to education many in skills

Vocational Education and Training

• operated by municipalities
• approximately 200 VET schools
• almost all of the schools are public
• combination of theory and practice
• same teachers teach both areas
• 1945 Act -- government provides 1/2 of money to vocational industries
• 1/2 of money comes from local and 1/2 from national budgets
• have to buy books but allowance from state

1990s

• decentralization and deregulation -- decisions on a local level
• no more inspections, self-evaluations
• merging of small schools

Qualification comes from the specific national core curriculum

Students can have a personal study plan

7 sectors of VET, 53 total qualifications:

1. natural resources
2. technology and transport
3. business and administration
4. tourism, catering, and home economics
5. health and social services
6. culture
7. leisure and physical education

Initial VET

• 120 credits (study weeks)
• 40 per year
• 20 credits for on-the-job training
• (apprenticeships -- mainly adults)

120 credits

• 20 credits -- core subjects e.g. math
• 90 credits -- vocational studies
• 10 credits -- free to choose

On-the-job learning

• introduced in 1999-2000
• done in the workplace
• teacher comes to the workplace once in a while
• students, not employees
• there to learn, not to make money
• in many cases, the student is hired

Skills demonstrations

• practical tests in all vocational modules
• introduced in 2006
• in addition to written tests

Main challenges

• lack of labor in certain fields
• cooperation of on-the-job learning and working life, with general studies
• opening paths to further studies
• supporting weak students, preventing drop-outs
• improving the prestige of VET

Competence-based qualifications

• specialist and further qualifications
• adult education -- 1000 institutions, 14% of Ministry of Education budget, 1 million adults participate
• developed in 1990s
• apprenticeships
• updating of qualifications

Levels of qualifications

• initial
• further
• specialist

Large increase in participants in VET

Polytechnics

• from the mid-1990s
• more clear situation for this sector of higher education
• for more practical focus, e.g. doctors at university, nurses at polytechnic
• two types of engineers: insenoori (polytechnic), and diplomi-insenoori (university)
  

Special Features of the Finnish Education System: Steering and Financing of Educational Services in Finland

Timo Lankinen spoke about the steering and financing of the educational services in Finland, addressing the economics and administration of education.

Here are the notes from his presentation:

Features of the Finnish education system:

• equal opportunities
• regional accessibility
• decentralized since the 1990s -- municipally administered
• publicly funded
• free, e.g. meals, travel, materials (no university fees either)
• state financial aid scheme
• learning environment -- individual attention, innovation, recognition of prior learning
• virtuous cycle of teaching, e.g. low acceptance rate to teacher education
• Welfare State

Structure of the education system:

• polytechnics -- creation was the largest reform in the 1990s (upgraded to higher education level)
• polytechnic Master's degrees, after three years of work experience
• expansion and amalgamation of universities. Universities are under state control, while polytechnics are under municipal or company control
• students in education -- lower enrollment, less population in age cohort
• expenditure: 10 billion Euros overall, basic education 36.5% of expenditure

Pre-primary and basic education

• six-year-olds have the right to (free) schooling, but the municipalities organize care. This way children are prepared before basic education. (Day care teachers are trained in universities.)
• basic education -- from 7 to 16 years. Class teachers for the first six years, then subject teachers for the last three years
• local authorities assign a place, but there is school choice
• maintained by municipalities
• basic education core curriculum -- a national core curriculum, from the Board of Education but administered in the local system

History of Finnish Education

• Reforms 1972-1977 to comprehensive school from a parallel school
• core curriculum reviewed in 1985, 1994, and 2004 -- strengthened the role of the municipality, strengthened special needs education, increased the importance of home-school relation

Post-comprehensive schools

• new movement to have a combination of vocation school and gymnasium
  
• more students to initial vocational education -- a growing sector
  
• 97% of students go directly to upper secondary school
• general education allows eligibility to further studies
• polytechnic students are also eligible for higher education

Matriculation exam

• based on the national curriculum
• four tests minimum: mother tongue (Finnish or Swedish), mathematics, foreign language, general

Vocational Education and Training

• work-based learning
• apprentice based training
• licence from ministry, but provided by municipalities or companies
• Initial vocational education and training: 53 qualifications, 116 study programs
• qualifications by registered vocational education and training providers
• qualifications set by the National Board of Education
  
• different ways to acquire a qualification -- curriculum based and demonstration based

Higher Education

• universities and polytechnics
• universities -- state
• polytechnics -- most municipal or private

Adult education

• flexible way for adults to study

Steering of Educational Services

• national development plans set guidelines every five years
• legislation reformed in 1999. Decision-making to the providers level
• registered education providers, e.g. vocational education -- local but national approval
• national core curriculum and vocational qualifications at basic, gymnasium, and vocational levels
• teacher education of high quality
• national requirements of teachers
• financing
• evaluation a central role of the provider. High trust in providers (no inspectorate)
• quality management at the provider's level

The Constitution

• educational rights (Section 16):
• the right to education free of charge
• public authorities must provide the opportunity
• freedom guaranteed
• the Saame -- constitutional rights to cultural autonomy. The Saame Parliament has educational influence. Some schools in the Saame language
• equal rights for national languages (Section 17), Finnish and Swedish

The Finnish National Board of Education

• first developed in 1991
• responsible for the administration of education at all levels

Evaluation by the Finnish National Board of Education

• assesses learning outcomes at basic and upper secondary education
• provides self-assessment
• only uses samples (5,000-6,000 students), does not test the entire age cohort
• reports at age/subject
• results not published at the school level, only national

Role of the municipality

• Constitution (Section 21) -- self government, municipal tax
• 416 municipalities
• public administration mainly local
• expenditure accounts for 30% of total public sector and 2/3 public consumption
• 50% on welfare and health, 25% on education
• municipalities cooperate with each other, e.g. vocational schools and polytechnics (voluntary) and health care (obligatory)
  

Teacher Training Today

Curently, twelve universities have teacher training courses. Moving all teacher training to the university level shows the unification within the teacher training programs, no matter what the level or discipline (Begrem, et al., 1997).

Finland has more professors of education than the rest of the Scandinavian countries combined (Kivinen & Rinne, 1994).

Today, teacher training courses still accept approximately 10% of their 5,000 applicants (Kivinen & Rinne, 1994; Sahlberg, 2007, p. 154).

All teachers have a univeristy education. Teachers for pre-primary schools have a bachelor's degree from either a university or a polytechnic. Teachers in vocational schools need to have a higher or postgraduate degree within their subject, either from a university or a polytechnic. If a higher degree does not exist within their field, they must have the highest possible qualification within their subject. In addition to academic qualifications, vocational teachers must have at least three years experience within their field, in addition to the pedagogical coursework.

Vocational Education

Some students choose to continue their education in the vocational track.  They learn in a school environment, but do have some work-based learning as well.  

The apprenticeship schemes in vocational schools have expanded recently, and approximately 10% of the vocational course takes place in an apprenticeship environment.  

Institutions carrying out vocational education receive a license from the Ministry of Education, but municipalities and companies carry out the education itself.

In initial vocational education, students can receive 53 qualifications out of 116 study programs. The qualifications can come under seven sectors of vocational study:

1. Natural sciences
2. Technology and transport
3. Social sciences, business and administration
4. Tourism, catering, and home economics
5. Health and social services
6. Culture
7. Leisure and physical education
8. Humanities and teaching

Vocational education and training in Finland believes in giving students the knowledge and skills necessary for vocation competence and employment, in addition to knowledge and skills needed for further studies and lifelong learning.  Therefore, students in the vocational sector have 1/3 of their curriculum filled by general studies. 

Recently, it has become popular for students to gain qualifications in both the academic and vocational sectors of upper-secondary education.  10% of students in the vocational track take classes in the general upper-secondary schools, and 8% take the matriculation exam.