The Finnish National Board of Education: We, citizenship, respect, consultation, trust, entrepreneurial thinking

I met with Minna and Tuija from the Finnish National Board of Education to discuss partnerships in the development of VET curriculum.

Minna and Tuija were incredibly hospitable, they had organised a meeting room with morning tea and presentation facilities to make sure I was comfortable. It is interesting to note that the Finns see themselves as quiet and reserved yet at every meeting I found that they have been warm, welcoming and genuinely interested in how the Australian VET sector works.

Discussion points:

• ·         Employers, trade unions, students and VET colleges are all fully involved in the consultation process to develop or reform VET curriculum.
• ·         The Finnish National Board of Education has approx. 150 committees working at the moment representing all stakeholders to develop new laws, standards and curriculum
• ·         They maintain a very strong relationships with trade unions and industry groups
• ·         Most workers are a member of a trade union
• ·         The consultation process takes time but when they reach a consensus all parties are fully engaged and will support the recommendations
• ·         There is a tradition of this style of consultation around education, this is not new. 
• There is a strong culture, expectation and tradition of consultative, workplace engaged education
• ·         Quality control is not auditing based but is continuous and reflective, there is no sense of blame or stress, “if it is not right we will do better next time”
• ·         Teachers are regarded as highly respected professionals. “We trust and respect our teachers”
• ·         Employers and the community trust the qualifications from the VET colleges.
• ·         We briefly discussed the Pisa results and how well the Finnish students have performed. “The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. To date, students representing more than 70 economies have participated in the assessment.”
• ·         Most students spend an average of 5 years in VET and or Uni, “students need time to learn”. Most students aren't expected to be employed fulltime till about 25 yrs
• ·         The Netherlands has a great educational system that we should look at as well
• ·         Unions and chambers of commerce lead their employers to support education. Employers are expected to be a part of education. This appears to be almost an expectation of citizenship. We all must support our students.
• ·         We discussed the proportion of students engaged in the different educational sectors, this was consistent with the discussion and slides from Otto at the Helsinki Business College
• ·         all laws around education are now changing - participants from multiple groups, students, teachers and educational providers will all be consulted
• ·         Very highly consultative approach to making decisions, all parties are involved and responsible to reach a consensus. Takes longer but the decisions stick.
• ·         I continuously hear common terms when I talk to people: We, citizenship, respect, consultation, trust, entrepreneurial thinking. Their style of education is much more than a process, this is obviously an entrenched norm and culture that has a long history.

MinnaBálint, Counsellor of Education, VET,  The Finnish National Board of Education

Tuija Laukkanen, VET,  The Finnish National Board of Education

Links

• Finnish National Board of Education
• Vocational upper secondary education
• Ongoing Reforms and Policy Developments
• Statistics of the month: A quarter of all vocational qualifications are completed as apprenticeship training in Finland
• Learning in, about and for Development Partnerships