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10.1.2025 | Finland, together with Åland, holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2025. In the branch government of the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Presidency programme highlights cultural cooperation between the Nordic countries as well as cultural diversity, inclusiveness and equality. In terms of education and research cooperation, the emphasis is on raising the level of educat...

19.9.2022 | The budget proposal for 2023 of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Government will continue to invest in education and culture. The budget proposal helps implement the key objectives in the Government Programme of raising the level of education and competence, bridging learning gaps and increasing educational equality. Arts and culture will be used to boost conditions and strengthen engagement in creative work.

18.12.2024 | Cultural Policy Report General presentation of the process and content 28 November 2024 2 | • The Government included in its Programme a cultural policy report seeking to produce an ambitious vision that will make it possible to develop Finland's ...

8.2.2024 | 19 December 2023 1(4) Ministry of Education and Culture Privacy Notice to Data Subjects This privacy notice relates to personal data that will be processed in a study that examines how the new support structure under the Act on Early Childhood Edu...

6.5.2025 | The Nordic ministers of culture and ministers of education and science met in Helsinki on 5 and 6 May as part of Finland's and Åland's 2025 co-presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

28.2.2025 | This year's Finnish State Award for Foreign Translators goes to Sébastien Cagnoli, who has translated a wealth of quality literature from Finnish into French.

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.

12.9.2023 | The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published its annual Education at a Glance (EAG) publication, which consists of internationally comparable indicators of education systems. This year’s report focuses on vocational education and training. The report mainly covers 2021.

1.12.2022 | Finnish National Agency for Education | Primary and lower secondary education in Finland | EDUFI 2022 Primary and lower secondary education in Finland School education begins in the year a child turns 7 and lasts 9 years. Before that, all 6-year- ...

21.10.2020 | An action plan will be drawn up to prevent bullying. The programme's measures aim to make sure that it is safe for all children and young people to attend school. At their meeting on Wednesday 21 October, the Ministerial Working Group on Competence, Education, Culture and Innovation and the Ministerial Working Group on Child and Youth Policy decided to start preparing the programme.

1.10.2021 | Bulletin for parents and custodians about a survey on the two-year pre-primary education trial To parents and other custodians, Your child’s early education centre is participating in a two-year pre-primary education trial being carried out betwee...

10.12.2020 | The Government has prepared a draft report on education policy. The report provides an overview of the current situation in education and research and the target state and necessary measures to reach the target. The draft report has been sent on a broad round of consultations. The report is due to be submitted to Parliament early next year.

8.11.2021 | Ministry of Education and Culture/1 November 2021 Ministry of Education and Culture Privacy Notice to Data Subjects Personal data to be processed in the follow-up and assessment of the two-year pre-primary education trial 1 General information Thi...

26.11.2019 | The Ministry of Education and Culture is set to launch the Right to Learn – An Equal Start on the Path of Education development programme. The programme, which will run from 2020 to 2022, is the Government term’s most significant package for the development of early childhood education and care and basic education.

6.10.2022 | The Government’s proposal to comprehensively reform the Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration (hereinafter, the Integration Act) aims to strengthen the inclusion of immigrants in society and to make the promotion of integration more efficient. Another goal is to increase equality and wellbeing and advance good relations between population groups. The reform seeks to facilitate the path of immigra...

19.11.2019 | Minister of Science and Culture Hanna Kosonen will chair the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council meeting in Brussels on 21–22 November. The meeting will focus on culture and sustainable development, the competitiveness of the audiovisual sector, combating corruption in sport, safe sport for children and young people, education and training of youth workers, and digital youth work. Culture and sport are on the agenda on 21 November and youth affairs on 22 November.

26.1.2021 | The Ministry of Education and Culture has prepared a comprehensive action plan to prevent bullying, teasing, violence and harassment in schools and educational institutions. The Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health formulated the measures for the action plan.

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.

9.1.2023 | The income thresholds on which the fees are based will be raised by 33%. The legislative amendment enters into force 1 March 2023.

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.

9.10.2023 | The Ministry of Education and Culture’s proportion of the 2024 budget proposal is EUR 8.0 billion, which is EUR 274 million more than in the 2023 Budget. The budget proposal implements the Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's Government by raising the level of education and competence of the entire population. The measures in the budget proposal aim to strengthen the effectiveness of science and improve the conditions for conducting research and development.

17.1.2020 | By the end of 2020, the Government will prepare a report on education policy running up to 2030. The Ministry of Education and Culture has opened an online survey to collect feedback to supplement the preparations. The open questionnaire gives you the chance to express your views on what you believe competence, learning and research are likely to look like in 2030. This way you can have an effect on which issues are raised in the report.

27.2.2024 | This year, the recipient of the Finnish State Award for Foreign Translators is Maima Grīnberga (b. 1969), who has been translating Finnish literature into Latvian with distinction. The prize, which has been awarded since 1975, is worth EUR 15,000. The Ministry of Education and Culture awards the prize annually based on a proposal by the Finnish Literature Exchange (FILI).

24.9.2020 | The Government proposes to enact a law on the promotion of performing arts that would replace the current Theatres and Orchestras Act. The name and scope of the new Act would be more general than the current Theatres and Orchestras Act and would cover all forms of performing arts, and access to the system of central government transfers would not be restricted to certain forms of performing arts. The Government submitted the proposal to Parliament on Thursday, 11 June 2020.

9.2.2022 | The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture organised the Nordic Nord StarT Climate Change Competition in autumn 2021. The competition was part of the programme of Finland’s Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021. Organised in cooperation with the LUMA Centre Finland’s StarT programme, the competition aimed to engage children, young people and adults, all the way from early childh...

4.6.2024 | The eight winners of the 2024 State Awards for Public Information were praised for calling attention to issues that would have otherwise been sidelined, shaking up entrenched attitudes, and promoting international perspectives in the Finnish public debate.

2.9.2019 | Li Andersson, Minister of Education, and Hanna Kosonen, Minister of Science and Culture, will have an exchange of views on Wednesday 4 September with a committee of the European Parliament in Brussels. The ministers will present the priorities of Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU to the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT).

30.12.2021 | Finland’s presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers is coming to an end. Although the COVID-19 pandemic naturally affected event arrangements, solutions have also been found. For example, it has become commonplace to arrange remote and hybrid events, with recordings and reports produced for many events that can be used in various contexts, even after the presidency year ends. This documentat...

8.4.2021 | On Thursday 8 April, the Government submitted to Parliament a report on education policy. The Education Policy Report paves the way for equitable and high-quality education in the 2040s in Finland, where skills requirements are growing and age cohorts are shrinking. The report outlines the target state for education and research when moving forward to the 2040s and the necessary changes in resources, structures and guidance to achieve it.

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.

13.3.2023 | The European Parliament has appointed Doctor of Social Sciences Pilvi Torsti as Director of the European Training Foundation (ETF). The appointment is significant for Finland. Pilvi Torsti will take up her new post on 16 April 2023.

3.10.2022 | The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published its annual Education at a Glance publication, which consists of internationally comparable indicators of education systems. The main theme of this year’s edition focuses on tertiary education. The report mainly covers 2020.

6.3.2017 | The National Agency for Education has granted a total of EUR 4,014,000 in special assistance to 96 different projects carried out by providers of basic education to develop, increase and introduce language teaching earlier in early childhood education, preschool education and basic education. Advancing the start of language teaching is part of the Government's key project for reforming the comprehensive school.

5.8.2022 | For the 2023 budget proposal, the Ministry of Education and Culture proposes an appropriation of EUR 7.6 billion for its branch of government, which is EUR 175 million more than in the 2022 Budget.

25.1.2021 | The International Day of Education has been commemorated by a decision of the UN General Assembly since 2019. This year, the message is a special one: education is an investment in the future and, as such, an essential part of the post-pandemic recovery and revitalisation efforts. Now more than ever, we must make sure to invest in education, competence and research. Teachers worldwide deserve our appreciation.

17.12.2020 | A record number of 197,040 children and young people took part in the pupil and student survey conducted by the Ministry of Education and Culture. This is a significant achievement for an online survey both by national and international standards. More than one third of pupils and students in primary and lower secondary education participated in the survey (35 per cent of all pupils and student...

6.12.2016 | The focus in the OECD’s PISA 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment was on scientific literacy. In the triennial survey, Finnish 15-year-olds ranked in third place among the OECD countries in scientific literacy. Finnish students were still among the best in reading literacy, and mathematical literacy has remained unchanged. There is a lack of enthusiasm for science, however, and this is reflected in a drop in score points.

Pääministeri Orpon hallituksen ohjelman (2023) mukaisesti hallitus uudistaa taiteen perusopetusta koskevan lainsäädännön. Tavoitteena on opetuksen saavutettavuuden parantaminen eri taiteenalat huomioiden.

3.12.2019 | The focus in the OECD’s PISA 2018 (Programme for International Student Assessment) was on reading literacy. The survey, held every three years, again ranked Finnish 15-year-olds among top performers in reading literacy in OECD countries. Compared with 2015, Finnish students’ mathematical literacy also remained unchanged, but performance in science literacy declined.

27.5.2022 | Minister of Education Li Andersson visited London this week. Tuesday 24 May Andersson participated in a panel discussion at the Education World Forum, which focused on educational equality, digitalisation, smooth educational paths and international cooperation.