Title: Education reform in Finland and the comprehensive school system | Centre For Public Impact (CPI)
Headings: Education reform in Finland and the comprehensive school system
Education reform in Finland and the comprehensive school system
The initiative
The challenge
The public impact
Stakeholder engagement
Political commitment
Public confidence
Clarity of objectives
Strength of evidence
Feasibility
Management
Measurement
Alignment
Bibliography
The Public Impact Fundamentals - A framework for successful policy

Content: It was necessary to provide quality education for all children regardless of their socioeconomic background or where they lived. The public impact
The success of the comprehensive education reforms is evident from the subsequent excellent student performance and national educational outcomes. These outcomes can be attributed to a number of factors, including the focus on providing equal access for all to quality education and the role of local municipalities and teachers in designing and implementing the curriculum to meet students' needs. Student performance at school has improved considerably since the implementation of comprehensive school reforms. While there are other factors at play - such as a more extensive build-up of the welfare state - the reforms are seen as at least partly responsible for the improvement. By the 1980s and 1990s, students educated in the comprehensive system performed better academically than those educated in the two-tier system of the 1960s and early 1970s. [ 2] In the early 2000s, Finnish students began to score exceptionally well in international assessments such as the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA), which evaluates “the extent to which 15-year-old students, near the end of their compulsory education, have acquired key knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies” . [ 7] In 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009, Finland took nearly all the top spots for mathematical and scientific literacy and reading. Although there has been a slight drop in its position in mathematical literacy since 2012, Finland still places highly overall. [ 8] In addition to an improvement in educational outcomes, the number of students staying longer in education has increased as a result of the comprehensive reforms and subsequent upper secondary school reforms in the 1980s. [