The Finnish Government's biggest school policy reform is the extension of compulsory education to everyone under 18 years of age. At the same time, upper secondary edu-cation was made free of charge.
The reform took effect on 1 August 2021. The OAJ has closely monitored the implementation of the legislation and collects information on the impact of the reform on the workload of teachers. The state has promised to fully finance the reform, but there are still real concerns regarding the adequacy of the funding.
The OAJ was in favour of the Compulsory Education Act but demands further clarification in order for the legislation to achieve its objectives in reducing dropout rates in upper secondary education.
In particular, support for learning needs to be reformed at all levels of education and teachers’ group sizes need to be defined in the legislation to ensure that group sizes stay adequately small. These measures would also have a decisive impact on the wellbeing of teachers at work.