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18.12.2025 | The international results of the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2024 were published earlier this autumn. They have now been supplemented with Finland’s national results. Finland participated in the main TALIS 2024, which focused on lower secondary school teachers and principals, and in the TALIS Starting Strong module, which targeted staff in early childhood education and care and pre-primary education.

28.1.2025 | More than 112,000 primary and lower secondary schoolchildren from 1,300 schools took part in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s national student survey. According to the survey, 85% of schoolchildren have a hobby they enjoy. 19% of lower secondary school students lack a hobby, even though lower secondary school students showed a great deal of interest in different leisure activities. They indicated an interest in trying out 11 leisure activities.

2.12.2025 | An OECD survey shows that Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) stands out for active cooperation with families. In Finland, staff communicate and organise events for families more often than in most other participating countries. Stress levels among ECEC and pre-primary staff and leaders are lower in Finland than elsewhere, but staff shortages are a major source of stress.

15.1.2026 | Today the Government decided in its plenary session to submit to Parliament the Government Report on the Application of Language Legislation in 2025. The report provides important monitoring data on the current state of Finland’s national languages and other indigenous languages and on the realisation of linguistic rights.

12.6.2025 | The Government appointed Director Heidi Backman, M.Soc.Sc. as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Culture on 12 June. The appointment is for a five-year term beginning on 4 August 2025.

22.12.2025 | On 22 December 2025, the Government adopted a decree on a new grant that employment authorities can use to help companies hire unemployed young people under 30 years of age. This grant is also known as the employment voucher or recruitment subsidy. The subsidy granted to a company covers half of the young person’s salary for six months, but no more than EUR 1,500 per month.

7.11.2025 | The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment will hold a public consultation from 7 to 23 November 2025 on a draft government decree setting out provisions on a government grant, which the employment authorities could use to help companies hire unemployed young people under the age of 30. This grant is also known as the employment voucher or recruitment subsidy. It would be awarded to businesses to cover half of the young person’s salary for six months.

22.11.2024 | As part of the legislative reform of basic education in the arts, the Ministry of Education and Culture has charted the experiences of children and young people participating in basic education in the arts when engaging in the arts as a recreational activity. Children and young people must be consulted in all legislative drafting concerning them. The consultation was conducted using an open online survey.

30.12.2024 | schools The Basic Education Act is being amended. With the amendments, the use of telephones and other mobile devices during lessons will only be allowed in certain situations. Regional State Administrative Agencies will also be able to investigate, on their own initiative, whether education is being organised in line with the Basic Education Act. In addition, promoting a physically active lifestyle will be added to the objectives of pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education.

10.9.2024 | The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published its Education at a Glance, an annual publication of indicators describing education systems. This year, the report focuses on equity in education.

6.8.2025 | The Ministry of Finance's draft budget for 2026 implements the guidelines of the Government’s spring mid-term policy review and includes the Minister of Finance's new adjustment measures proposed by the Minister of Finance to ensure that the debt ratio stabilises towards the end of the parliamentary term. The draft budget totals EUR 89.6 billion and involves a deficit of EUR 9.9 billion. When enter...

12.3.2025 | A survey by We Foundation shows that groups for extracurricular activity organised by municipalities free of charge as part of the school day provide the majority of the participants with a safe space that is free of bullying, discrimination and racism. The results confirm that groups based on the Finnish model for leisure activities increase student wellbeing and are the only opportunity for many children and young people to have a hobby. The survey covers 20 municipalities of different sizes.

30.1.2025 | A working group preparing an overhaul of student financial aid has assessed the current situation in student financial aid and key development needs in the student financial aid system. Needs for development that were deemed essential include reinstating indexation and restructuring interest assistance and loan granting practices to improve the security of student loans. The working group's proposals were submitted to Minister Sandra Bergqvist on 30 January.

5.12.2023 | Findings of the OECD’s PISA 2022 (Programme for International Student Assessment) show that the learning outcomes of young people in Finland have deteriorated. Anna-Maja Henriksson, the Finnish Minister of Education, says restructuring of educational policies and resources for implementing the changes will be needed to improve learning outcomes.

30.9.2024 | The PISA 2022 results show that there are still major disparities in performance between immigrant and non-immigrant students in all domains of assessment. Underperformance of students with an immigrant background is often explained by weak reading performance and lower socio-economic status.

15.2.2023 | The Ministry of Education and Culture published on Wednesday 15 February an Outlook Review of the Officials of the Ministry of Education and Culture on the Next Government Term.  In the future, too, Finland’s success, wellbeing and sustainable growth can only be based on the growth of human and social capital and innovation.

22.12.2021 | The Ministry of Education and Culture and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare have updated two recommendations related to the prevention of the COVID-19 epidemic. One of the recommendations applies to providers of early childhood education and care and school education, and the second to providers of general upper secondary education and vocational education and training, liberal adult education, basic education for adults, universities of applied sciences and universities.

18.6.2024 | The results of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 Creative Thinking assessment were published on 18 June 2024. The assessment measured how 15-year-olds in the participating countries were able to generate solutions for problems in everyday contexts. In Finland, young people demonstrated a high level of creative thinking, girls being among the best performers. Minis...

12.1.2023 | The Ministry of Education and Culture has published the first bildung review, which provides an overview of development in the Ministry’s administrative branch over the past decades. The latest stage, which began in the 1990s, is characterised by a decline in the achieved learning outcomes, the plateauing of the rising level of education among Finns, as well as a gradual decrease in public input into education.

15.12.2022 | More than 164,000 primary and lower secondary schoolchildren from 1,500 schools took part in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s national student survey. They were asked what extra-curricular activities they would like to try out and what their main reasons for engaging in leisure activities were. More children and young people (85%) now have a meaningful leisure activity than was the case in the 2020 survey.