Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has the potential to address a range of goals, yet delivering on the potential of ECEC requires a workforce that is equipped and motivated to meet the unique demands of facilitating young children’s development, learning and well-being. The OECD Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS Starting Strong) focuses on the ECEC workforce. In 2024, ECEC staff and leaders in 17 countries and subnational entities shared insights into a wide range of topics, including their working conditions, professional development opportunities and their work with young children.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the world’s largest survey of teachers and principals. In 2024, educators from 55 education systems provided information about what they do and how they are doing. They explain if and how they use artificial intelligence, why they became teachers and if they wish to continue teaching. Governments use data from TALIS to make policies that improve teaching and learning conditions in their schools.

Education at a Glance is the authoritative source of information on the state of education worldwide. It offers comprehensive data on the structure, financing, and performance of education systems across OECD countries and partner economies. This publication features more than 100 charts and tables that present key insights into the output of educational institutions, the impact of learning across countries, access and participation in education, financial investment in education, and the roles of teachers and school organisation. The 2025 edition places a special focus on tertiary education, examining attainment rates, variations in labour market outcomes by field of study, completion rates, and the skills of adults with tertiary qualifications.

The Survey of Adult Skills offers unique insights on adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving. These skills are crucial for both personal and societal success, and form the foundation for continuous learning and innovation. In 2022-23, the survey assessed adults aged 16-65 in 31 countries and economies. By comparing results over time and with those of other participating countries and economies, participants can track the skill levels of its adult population, pinpoint barriers to skill development and use, and craft effective policies to address these challenges.

This report takes the reader into the lives of young people in Finland, Greece, Israel, the Netherlands and Portugal to explore the question: how do 15-year-olds learn English? Gone are the days when learners only encountered English for a couple of hours a week in a classroom. For today's teens, English is often the preferred language of communication in increasingly diverse online and offline communities. Yet relatively little is known internationally about how students learn English inside and outside school, and the resources available to help them. This report presents country findings from interviews with 15-year-olds, English-language teachers and school principals and wider background research, as well as a comparative chapter on key international insights. The report also explores how today's digital technologies can support learners to develop foreign language proficiency. These findings support the forthcoming PISA 2025 Foreign Language Assessment through which the OECD will generate comparable data on students’ proficiency in English in different countries and on the factors related to it.

Smaller, more targeted, and more flexible than traditional education and training programmes, micro-credentials have become a prominent feature of education, training and labour market policy discussions in recent years. Several OECD countries have already started the development of national micro-credential ecosystems, and many others are looking to follow suit. This OECD Education Policy Perspective serves as Part B in a two-part series of summary papers. The first publication, Paper A, examined the evolving landscape of micro-credentials, with a particular focus on the development of public policies that can foster effective utilisation of micro-credentials for lifelong learning, upskilling and reskilling. This publication, Paper B, presents case studies from four European Union Member States - Finland, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Spain. The document was authored by Roza Gyorfi and Shizuka Kato from the OECD Higher Education Policy Team and Thomas Weko from George Washington University.

This report, linked with the Digital Education Outlook 2023, provides an overview of 29 countries' (or jurisdictions') digital education ecosystem and governance. Each chapter covers the devolution of responsibilities within countries; how it affects digital education; what digital tools for management and teaching and learning are made publicly available to schools, teachers and students; how they are provided or procured; how countries ensure the security, privacy, equity and effectiveness of this digital ecosystem while keeping incentives for private education technology (EdTech) companies. The information and analysis are based on a survey on digital education infrastructure and governance, interviews with national and regional government officials as well as desk-based research. Providing for the first time a holistic view of 29 countries' and jurisdictions' digital education ecosystem and governance, this report will be of interest to policy makers, academics and education stakeholders interested in the digital transformation of education at home and internationally.

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA indicate the quality and equity of learning outcomes attained around the world, and allow educators and policy makers to learn from the policies and practices applied in other countries. This country note provides a country-specific overview of Finland.

The future of Finland's funding model for higher education institutions was prepared as part of the OECD's Resourcing Higher Education Project. This wider project aims to provide a shared knowledge base for OECD member and partner countries on policy for higher education resourcing, drawing on system-specific and comparative policy analysis. The policy brief for Finland was developed at the request of the Finnish authorities to support reflection on possible adjustments to the public funding model for Finnish higher education for the funding period (2025-28). The brief reviews the key challenges facing higher education in Finland and national policy priorities, compares Finland’s model of funding higher education institutions (HEIs) with models in OECD systems sharing similar characteristics to Finland’s and reviews policy options - both within and outside of the funding model - to support achievement of key policy objectives.

The Early Childhood Education and Care in a Digital World project was initiated to support countries and jurisdictions in investigating ways in which ECEC can respond to digitalisation, harnessing opportunities to promote high-quality and equitable early childhood education and care (ECEC) while minimising associated risks. The evidence base for the project includes responses to a policy survey, a collection of case studies across participating countries and jurisdictions, literature reviews from academic experts, and desk-based research carried out by the OECD Secretariat. The project’s final report, Empowering Young Children in the Digital Age (2023), was published as part of the OECD Starting Strong series. Six countries (Canada, Finland, Japan, Korea, Norway and Sweden) engaged more actively in the project and its data collection. This country note provides an overview of key findings from the project as they relate specifically to digitalisation challenges and ECEC policy responses in Finland.

Finland has been widely regarded as one of the most successful education systems in the world. However, recent trends suggest that Finland's considerable achievements may be at risk. The country's performance in international student assessments has been declining over the past decade, as gaps among student groups and levels of school segregation have grown. In light of these developments, Finland is advancing a number of policies, notably under the umbrella of the Right to Learn (RtL) Programme, to improve quality and equity in early childhood education and care (ECEC), pre-primary and basic education. This analysis explores the Ministry of Education and Culture's (OKM) planned reforms in regard to the country's main education challenges and priorities. At the request of the Ministry, the analysis focusses on three main policy issues: (i) financing equity and quality in education, (ii) expanding participation and strengthen quality in ECEC, and (iii) equalising education opportunities through strengthening the local school policy. A final section looks at some of the cross-cutting issues that emerge from the OECD's analysis. This analysis offers policy considerations aimed at strengthening the design and implementation of the RtL Programme.

This policy brief is the second in a series of thematic policy briefs in the OECD's Resourcing Higher Education Project. This project provides a shared knowledge base for OECD member and partner countries on effective policies for higher education resourcing through system-specific and comparative policy analysis. To meet the skill needs of the Finnish economy, its government has set policy targets with respect to educational attainment and globally mobile learners, and backed those targets with additional resources to aid higher education institutions in accomplishing them. At the same time, Finnish policymakers are engaged in an assessment of their higher education landscape, examining whether the distribution of responsibilities among its higher education institutions is effectively coordinated and adapted to national innovation needs. This policy brief assesses the progress of initiatives to expand the capacity of the higher education system and increase its attractiveness to globally mobile learners, and takes stock of Finland's institutional landscape in light of international experience.

This country policy profile on education in Finland is part of the Education Policy Outlook series. Building on the first policy profile for Finland (2013), it offers a concise analysis of where the education system stands today in terms of strengths, challenges and ongoing policy efforts, and how this compares to other systems. The profile brings together over a decade's worth of policy analysis by the Education Policy Outlook, as well as the latest OECD data, relevant thematic and country-specific work and other international and national evidence. It also offers analysis of the Finnish education system's initial responses to the COVID-19 crisis and provides insight into approaches to building greater responsiveness and resilience for the future.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the first international large-scale survey that provides a voice to teachers and school principals, who complete questionnaires about issues such as the professional development they have received; their teaching beliefs and practices; the assessment of their work and the feedback and recognition they receive; and various other school leadership, management and workplace issues. This note presents findings based on the reports of lower secondary teachers and their school leaders in mainstream public and private schools in Finland.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the first international large-scale survey that provides a voice to teachers and school principals, who complete questionnaires about issues such as the professional development they have received; their teaching beliefs and practices; the assessment of their work and the feedback and recognition they receive; and various other school leadership, management and workplace issues. This note presents findings based on the reports of lower secondary teachers and their school leaders in mainstream public and private schools in Finland.

Finland's country notes describe policy measures and the planning, organisation, steering and objectives of transitions as they were in spring 2016. The country review also describes the transitions from the perspective of professional, pedagogical and developmental continuity. It further provides a summary of the challenges associated with the transitions and the strategies deployed to overcome these challenges. The country report also brings up Finnish research and researchers focusing on transitions from recent years.

This Data Spotlight note on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) provides a summary of ECEC policy inputs, outputs and outcomes in Finland. It uses data available within the OECD Secretariat - Education at a Glance, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the OECD Family Database - to make comparisons between Finland's ECEC system and the systems in other OECD countries. This note complements the 2015 OECD publication, Starting Strong IV: Monitoring Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care.

This Data Spotlight note on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) provides a summary of ECEC policy inputs, outputs and outcomes in Finland. It uses data available within the OECD Secretariat - Education at a Glance, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the OECD Family Database - to make comparisons between Finland's ECEC system and the systems in other OECD countries. This note complements the 2015 OECD publication, Starting Strong IV: Monitoring Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care.

While Finland implements a wide range of practices to monitor quality in ECEC, several challenges remain. Firstly, there is no shared perspective for quality in ECEC. Setting out clear quality goals in a framework can overcome this. Secondly, Finland has no national monitoring system. Developing a national quality framework and standardising certain monitoring tools can create greater coherence in Finland's monitoring system. And thirdly, there is limited training on monitoring available which indicates a need for more in-service or on-the-job training.

In Finland, the numeracy and literacy skills of adults are among the highest in the countries measured through the OECD's 2012 Survey of Adult Skills. The Survey assessed the skills of adults in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments in 24 countries and sub-national regions in the first round of the Survey. But around 600 000 adults between the age of 16 and 65 still have low foundation skills (literacy or numeracy below level 2 in the Survey). These are people who struggle with basic quantitative reasoning or have difficulty with simple written information, and for them, entering and progressing in working life, and engaging in civic life, is becoming harder and harder. About half of them are over 55, many of them with more limited initial education; the other half are those younger people who have slipped through the net of an otherwise strong education system. This report looks at these issues and makes recommendations on how Finland might build on its strong performance, and ensure better levels of foundation skills for all.

This policy profile on education in Finland is part of the Education Policy Outlook series, which presents comparative analysis of education policies and reforms across OECD countries. Building on the substantial comparative and sectorial policy knowledge base available within the OECD, the series also includes a biennial publication. It develops a comparative outlook on education policy by providing: a) analysis of individual countries' educational context, challenges and policies (education policy profiles) and of international trends and b) comparative insight on policies and reforms on selected topics.

As part of the OECD review on migrant education, countries were invited to provide information on their national migrant education policies. Note that this information is in addition to the full country background reports provided by the six countries participating in the policy review: Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The attached information was provided by Finland using a standard international questionnaire on migrant education policies in response to longstanding diversity.

This Country Note on Finland forms part of the OECD Thematic Review of Tertiary Education. This is a collaborative project to assist the design and implementation of tertiary education policies which contribute to the realisation of social and economic objectives of countries. The principal objective of the review is to assist countries to understand how the organisation, management and delivery of tertiary education can help them to achieve their economic and social objectives. The focus of the review is upon tertiary education policies and systems, rather than upon the detailed management and operation of institutions, although clearly the effectiveness of the latter is influenced by the former.

This is one in a series of country case reports prepared as part of the study on Digital Learning Resources as Systemic Innovation. The overall aim of the study is to review and evaluate the process of innovation involved in policies and public as well as private initiatives designed to promote the development, distribution and use of DLR for the school sector. In so doing, the activity will bring together evidence of: how countries go about initiating ICT-based educational innovations related to DLR, the players and processes involved, the knowledge base which is drawn on, and the procedures and criteria for assessing progress and outcomes; What factors influence the success of policies aimed at promoting ICT-based educational innovations, particularly those related to the production, distribution and use of DLR including user involvement in the production process and new actors such as the gaming industry and media companies; User-driven innovations related to DLR, carried out by learners and teachers, such as innovative production and use of DLR, and how the educational system responds to such innovations.

The report provides an overview of school leadership developments and issues in Finland, as a contribution to the OECD's Improving School Leadership Activity. It discusses the national context of schooling, the features of the school system, school governance and leardership, the attractiveness of school leaders' roles, and professional learning of school leaders in the country.

The cases from Finland were selected for the OECD project, because of their participation in a national project conducted in 1990's by the National Board of Education. The aim of this project was to improve teaching methods and reform the methods of student assessment in comprehensive education. Fourteen schools from different parts of Finland took part in the project. These schools were contacted in spring 2002. Tikkakoski and Meilahti schools were two schools, in which the new way of student assessment was considered to be practiced in the whole school and not only realised by a few individual teachers.

In Finland, both education and the teaching profession have traditionally been held in high regard. One sign of appreciation of teaching work is willingness to apply for teacher education and training. To date, Finnish teacher education has not faced any problems in attracting applicants, with the exception of mathematics and certain natural sciences. Class teacher education, special needs teacher education, student/pupil counsellor education, and art and practical subjects are examples of fields, where the number of applicants is far greater than the number of student places available. Some universities experience occasional shortages of applicants for foreign languages, but the problem is local. Conversely, there is a national problem with applicants for mathematics and natural sciences. Applicant volumes for vocational teacher education and training vary by sector of education.

In the early 1990s, in the midst of a major economic slump, the Finnish government embarked on a strategy to re-mold Finland into a knowledge society. This report prepared for the OECD by an independent group of experts raises issues of fees for higher education, examines strategies for internationalisation of higher education, addresses issues of governance and accountability in higher education and offers advice on how the new system could be strengthened further.

The main purpose of the thematic review on adult learning is to understand adults' access and participation in education and training and to enhance policies and approaches to increase incentives for adults to undertake learning activities in OECD countries. It is a joint activity undertaken by the OECD Education Committee (EDC) and the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee (ELSAC) in response to the need to make lifelong learning a reality for all, to improve learning opportunities of low skilled and disadvantaged adults and to sustain and increase employability.

This review covers children from birth to compulsory school age and includes the transition period into primary schooling. In order to examine thoroughly what children experience in the first years of life, the review has adopted a broad, holistic approach to study early childhood policy and provision. To that end, consideration has been given to the roles of families, communities and other environmental influences on children's early learning and development. Particular emphasis has been laid on aspects concerning quality, access and equity, with an emphasis on policy development in the following areas: regulations; staffing; programme content and implementation; family engagement and support; funding and financing.

In our rapidly changing and globalised society where permanent adaptation to new economic and social standards is a prerequisite for a successful integration in the labour market, the transition from initial education to working life has become of prime importance. It is therefore necessary to focus on the interfaces between education and training and the labour market affecting transition processes and outcomes and the role of guidance and counselling in this process.