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Finland EDUCATION
Finland has had a strong tradition of literacy since
the
Protestant Reformation. The Lutheran Church aimed at
widespread
literacy to enable the common man to read the Bible. In
the next
century, proof of literacy became a requirement for the
right to
marry. By the second half of the nineteenth century,
legislation
was in place for a general system of elementary education,
although the tsarist regime did not allow its realization.
After
independence, a Comprehensive Education Act was passed in
1921
that met the state's constitutional requirement to provide
"universal compulsory education," including elementary
education,
at no cost. Legislation also stipulated that Finnish
citizens had
a duty to be educated.
In the postwar period, the basic goal of Finnish
education
authorities has been to create a system that would provide
equal
educational opportunities for everyone, would guarantee
the
country a populace able to meet the technological
challenges of
the international marketplace, would encourage democratic
values,
and would allow each person the fullest realization of his
or her
potential. Work to realize this goal has led since the
1960s to
profound changes in the organization of the country's
school
system. The old elementary school system that determined
at an
early age whether pupils were to follow a general or an
academic
course of studies was replaced by a uniform comprehensive
system
that postponed this decision until the mid-teens and that,
even
then, did not bar anyone from higher training at a later
time.
Secondary education was broadened and reformed to allow a
greater
range of choices and opportunities. University education
was
expanded and distributed more equally across the country,
its
control was democratized, and access to it was widened.
Data as of December 1988
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