Building up the school system and raising the overall level of education has required perseverance and hard work, and often involved political contests as well. The system can never be completely finalised, of course, but will continue to take new forms and adapt to the rapidly changing needs of society.
Public education in Finnish began in the 1860s. The original source of schooling in the native tongue in Finland has been the Church, as it has been in a number of other countries.
Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden from the 12th century to the beginning of the 19th century. In the 16th century, the Swedish King Gustav Vasa established the Lutheran Church as the national church of Finland. Lutheran principles included the ideal that people should be able to read the Bible in their own language. Indeed, the Church itself began to teach people to read and literacy became one of requirements that a person had to fulfil in order to get married.
In 1809 Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire. The official language of Finland at this time was still Swedish. The most important means of education for ordinary Finnish speakers took the form of travelling schools organised by the Church, in which farmhouses and log cabins were used as classrooms.
University courses were conducted in Swedish, and this was also the language of the academies that prepared students for university-level education. Swedish was primarily the language of the upper class, whilst the great majority of the population spoke Finnish as their native tongue.
The nationalist movement in the 19th century strove to establish the Finnish language of the majority as an official language. The movement’s other goals included national public education taught in Finnish. The study of Finnish as a language became part of the curriculum in the secondary schools that led up to a university education in 1843.
The first secondary school to actually teach in Finnish started lessons in 1858. A couple of decades later the number of Finnish-language schools increased greatly, thanks to the struggle that had been waged to establish them. In the middle of the 19th century, people also fought hard for access to education to be extended to the whole population. A national school system, independent of the Church, was set up in 1866. Three years later, a Supervisory Board of Education was established under the Ministry of Education to inspect, monitor and govern the school system in Finland.
Source: Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 2002
Administration
Finland’s state administration during the Swedish era comprised a system of central administrative bodies introduced in the 17th century; decision-making power in the system was held by field-specific central bodies. The educational administration and the national board managing educational issues were not established until the late 19th century; the Church took care of all educational matters until the State and the Church were separated in 1869. In the same year, the Board of Education was founded, and it functioned as a central body managing educational matters for over one hundred years.
The Board of Education, later known as the National Board of General Education, was primarily responsible for general education. The administration of vocational education and training remained dispersed under the auspices of different ministries. It was not until 1966 that a central administrative board in charge of vocational education and training, the National Board of Vocational Education, was established to work alongside the National Board of General Education. In 1991, these central boards were combined to form the Finnish National Board of Education, which still functions and is responsible for both general education and vocational education and training, with the exception of higher education. The Ministry of Education is the responsible body for the higher education institutions.
However, the traditional role of central administrative boards, which has included the strong steering of the implementation of legislation, has changed during the recent decades. Central boards have been combined and dismantled as part of the overall streamlining of administration a reduction in bureaucracy and their tasks have partly been transferred to ministries and partly to State Provincial Offices and local authorities.
The transition towards the ministerial administrative system has strengthened the role of the Ministry of Education. The influence of the Ministry on education policy decision-making has also become stronger, particularly in the 1990s.
The educational administration was previously characterised by the State’s precise steering and control. Since the 1980s, school legislation has been reformed, which has resulted in a continuous increase in the decision-making powers of local authorities and educational institutions. Steering and control of the local authorities’ educational administration through government subsidies has decreased dramatically, and the local authorities’ cultural and educational administration is no longer steered by field-specific legislation to any significant extent.
Evolution of Educational Provision
Finland was incorporated into Sweden during the Crusades of the 12th century. Social and religious influences from Sweden joined Finland to the sphere of Western culture.
Education was governed by the Church; education was provided in monastic schools and in the cathedral school established in Turku in the 13th century. Instruction was in Latin and aimed primarily at an ecclesiastical career. The Lutheran Reformation of the 16th century introduced the idea of vernacular education and the first ABC book in Finnish language. The first Finnish university, Turku Academy, was established in 1640.
In 1809, Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia for one hundred years. However, the legislation and social system from the Swedish era were preserved during the period of autonomy. Russian educational statutes were not applied to Finland.
In the 19th century, vocational education began to emerge in Finland for the needs of the rapidly growing industry and construction activities. A decree issued in 1898 contained an obligation for the local authorities to provide all school-aged children with an opportunity for schooling. The national non-ecclesiastical administration of education originated in 1869 with the establishment of the Board of Education. This also spelt the end of the Church's dominion in educational administration.
Finland became independent in 1917. Extension of education to all citizens and all parts of the country and the continuous efforts to increase the level of education constituted a policy for the young nation from the very beginning. In the Constitution, enacted in 1919, an obligation was laid down to provide for general compulsory education and for basic education free of charge. Moreover, the public authorities were to maintain or support general education, vocational education, applied art and scientific higher education, as well as university education. General compulsory education was prescribed by law in 1921.
Up until the 1970's, compulsory education was provided in the six-year folk school. After four years of folk school, a part of each age group moved up to the secondary school, which was divided into the five-year lower secondary school and the three-year upper secondary school. In the 1970's, a nine-year compulsory school common to the entire age group, i.e. the comprehensive school, was created on the basis of the folk school and lower secondary school.
The network of universities expanded gradually after the Second World War to cover the entire country. During the 1990's, a non-university sector of higher education, consisting of almost 30 polytechnics, has been created parallel with the university sector.