Over the last decade, Finland’s educational system has become internationally recognised. Different countries have shown an interest in learning about the Finnish education system to gain a better understanding of how education is developed, planned and executed in that country. This book aims to describe how the education system in Finland was built and what kind of aspects influence learning and teaching today. The authors of the chapters are academics and experts in the fields of teacher education or vocational education. The book presents a review of the historical and current aspects of the educational system of Finland. As such, it describes the learning path from compulsory education to vocational education and primary school teacher education, which is one of the main focuses of the Faculty of Education at the University of Lapland. Each chapter is based on its authors’ research results, which are adapted for inclusion in this book. This book answers an international call to provide an in-depth description of the National Finnish Education System from its beginning to today, and to discuss the practical implications of these measures.
The first chapter of the book, “Milestones of basic education in Finland: Pedagogy, structure and language”, authored by Otso Kortekangas, Merja Paksuniemi and Heikki Ervast, addresses the roots of the Finnish education system. It examines the institutional beginnings of Finnish basic education and the kind of pedagogy that Finnish teacher education was based on. The authors also investigate the influence of country’s educational history on the current school system.
The second chapter, “Tracing inclusive education and its prerequisites in the Finnish education system”, is authored by Suvi Lakkala. This chapter addresses two different factors that have impacted the development of the Finnish basic education system. On the one hand, the Finnish education system has succeeded in taking steps to make its education system more socially just. Finnish legislation and norms have deepened the understanding of the characteristics of inclusive education by emphasising socio-constructivist learning, learning skills and social interaction and by paying attention to developing a collective and supportive school culture. On the other hand, the problems in large Finnish cities and in remote areas in northern Finland have been diverging and growing. The demand for cost-efficiency has been competing with the human values of education, which has caused educational inequality in Finland. It has possibly also enhanced some misinterpretation of inclusive education.
The third chapter, “Finnish vocational education and training in transition”, authored by Pertti Lakkala and Suvi Lakkala, analyses the current changes in Finnish Vocational Education and Training. It first introduces a short history of vocational training to better understand the current situation. The reform of the Finnish VET took place in Finland as this chapter was being written, during the 2017–2018 academic year. The analysis is based on mapping the threats and strengths of the renewed VET system. In their argument, the authors rely on some relevant research knowledge, official statistics and documents from the Finnish National Educational Administration authorities, the Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) and the Finnish National Agency of Education (EDUFI). Finally, by using Resnick’s (2010) model of policy-planning components, the chapter identifies three dilemmas associated with deploying the new Finnish VET policies into the daily life of schools.
In the fourth chapter, “Initial teacher education at the University of Lapland”, Outi Kyrö-Ämmälä describes the present situation in the Teacher Training programme at the University of Lapland. That programme aims to provide students with opportunities to become acquainted with research and to evolve into reflective teachers. In this chapter, she introduces the initial teacher education model from the perspective of the development of reflective teachers who are also researchers. The model is based on principles of student teachers as reflective practitioners and researchers of their own work. The identity formation and professional development of teachers is regarded as an essential part of their initial teacher education. The final aim of the University of Lapland’s Teacher Education programme is to educate reflective practitioners who can facilitate dynamic school days for diverse learners.
In the fifth chapter, “Introduction to Sámi education”, Rauna Rahko-Ravantti and Pigga Keskitalo discuss how the Finnish educational system addresses the educational needs of the Sámi, the indigenous people of Finland. The focus is on using different measures to maintain the language and culture of the Sámi people. This chapter concentrates on primary school and it addresses the challenges that pupils and teachers face every day when functioning in a minority language context. Researcher constructs are also practises that could be used to solve some of these educational challenges.
In the sixth chapter, “Immigrant students in the Finnish educational system”, Minna Körkkö presents a brief history of immigration in Finland and discusses the main principles of organising immigrant education. The chapter sheds light on the main problems associated with immigrant education and it addresses ways to overcome the challenges and develop the educational system for immigrants in Finland.
The final chapter, “Promoting multiliteracy in the Finnish educational system”, authored by Päivi Rasi, Marjaana Kangas and Heli Ruokamo, discusses multiliteracy – one of the key competence areas needed to be developed in education – and it considers this both theoretically and practically. It first focuses on how multiliteracy is defined in the Finnish national core curricula for basic and upper secondary education, and then it addresses how multiliteracy is defined in the research literature. The chapter also discusses how teachers can use their teaching practices to promote their students’ multiliteracy, and it presents a six-step pedagogical model for promoting multiliteracy in cross-curricular phenomenon-based learning.