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Name:
Finnish National Agency for Education (Opetushallitus/Utbildningsstyrelsen)
Current status:
Schools are open
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Response to Covid-19 during the school year 2020-2021 (as in April 2021)

Secondary and upper secondary schools have shifted to distance learning from 8 to 28 March 2021 According to recent developments, secondary and upper secondary education continued distance learning until April 11th, instead of March 28th,2021.

Upper comprehensive schools: transition to contact teaching.

Remote learning arrangement remained until April 11th, 2021. After the Easter break, schools started an incremental transition to contact teaching. This measure also applies to students in the 10th grade.

A rotation model, applying remote and contact teaching is applied from April 12th, 2021. In order to maintain safety and social distance, the size of the groups of pupils is adjusted accordingly.

Upper secondary education: transition to contact learning.

Distance learning in upper secondary education continued until mid-April.

Response to Covid-19 during the school year 2020-2021

Schools in Finland opened on 10 August 2020.

Current regulations by the Finnish National Board of Education state that any children arriving at a daycare centre with any coronavirus symptom should stay at home.  

It is recommended to arrange teaching premises more spaciously than usual and avoid or reduce unnecessary physical contacts. Pre-primary education should, to the extent possible, be organised so that groups are not mixed or combined. Staff members in early childhood education and care should also work with the same group of children. In primary schools, the different teaching groups should be kept separate throughout the school day. In lower secondary schools and in optional subjects, the teaching groups may change if the teaching cannot be organised any other way. Safe distances of 1 to 2 metres should be maintained in contact teaching in general upper secondary schools and vocational education and training institutes, higher education institutions and liberal adult education. 

Temporary legislative amendments have also been introduced to prepare for possible changes in the development of the coronavirus situation. The aim is to enable the safe organisation of teaching.   

If contact teaching cannot be organised safely, exceptional teaching arrangements could be temporarily introduced in primary and lower secondary education by decision of the education provider.  

The Act on Vocational Education and Training has been temporarily amended regarding the demonstration of skills and competence. If, for reasons attributable to the coronavirus epidemic, a demonstration of the professional skills and competences required to pass a qualification module cannot be conducted face to face, a student may demonstrate his/her professional skills and competence by performing other practical tasks that are as similar to authentic settings and processes as possible. In addition, the demonstration of skills and competences can be supplemented with other types of competence assessment. 

Response to Covid-19 during the school year 2019-2020

Finland’s classrooms gradually reopened on 14 May 2020, following school closures that started in April across the country to stem the spread of novel coronavirus. While schools were closed, teaching organised in alternative ways by means of distance learning and other similar arrangements. The Government recommended that children in early childhood education and care, pre-primary education and in years 1 to 3 of comprehensive school education stay at home, if possible.

On 31 March, the Government issued a decree on the use of powers under the Emergency Powers Act (decree on continuing the use of powers under the Emergency Powers Act), and, on the basis of it, a decree on the application of the Emergency Powers Act on 6 April, which makes provision for continuing the measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.  The decree entered into force on 14 April 2020.

The decision to extend the exceptional arrangements was based on an assessment made by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare on 29 March of the measures needed to contain the COVID-19 epidemic.

The aim was to slow down the spread of coronavirus infections by reducing contacts between pupils, students, teaching staff and other personnel at all levels of education.

Regarding early childhood and care, the provision of care continued. Early childhood education centers remained open, but the Government recommends that parents or other guardians arrange the care of their children at home if this is possible.

Municipalities are not obliged to organise early childhood education and care remotely.

In pre-primary education, the provision of education continued in the form of contact teaching. Municipalities are not obliged to arrange pre-primary education remotely, but they may do so if they wish.

A clarification of the decree was made so that pupils in education preparing for basic education have the right to receive contact teaching. Pupils in preparatory education are pupils in basic education who have an immigrant background. The focus in their education was on studying Finnish and Swedish, and on providing skills for pre-primary or comprehensive school education. The purpose of these changes was to give support to pupils whose parents are not always able to help their children in distance education. The change concerned about 3,000 pupils.

The decree also stipulated that pupils in grades 1 to 3, pupils receiving special support, pupils in extended compulsory education and pupils in education preparing for basic education have the right to take part in distance learning if their parents are able to keep them at home. The right to distance learning was not mentioned in the previous decree.

The Government recommended that those entitled to contact teaching take part in distance learning whenever possible.

For comprehensive school grades 4 to 10 the decrees remain unchanged. Teaching in grades 4 to 10 were arranged in the form of distance learning and exceptional teaching arrangements.

The principles governing school meals remain unchanged. School meals must be provided for pupils participating in contact teaching. For pupils attending distance learning, school meals may be arranged only to the extent that it is feasible.

However, the education provider can always, in cooperation with student welfare, identify pupils for whom a daily school meal is very important and organise a meal for them even in situations where it is necessary to restrict the provision of meals significantly in order to avoid close contacts. This way it was possible to safeguard school meals for pupils at risk of being deprived of sufficient nutrition.

Student welfare is organised to the extent that it is possible.

General upper secondary schools, vocational schools and higher education institutions
The decrees concerning general upper secondary schools, vocational schools and higher education institutions remain unchanged, with the exception of some specifications related to vocational schools.

The specifications of vocational education and training are related to assistive services and aids required for demanding special support and learning. This concerns especially students who need assistance the most. In addition, an exemption provision is no longer necessary for drawing up and updating personal competence development plans.

The provisions on liberal education and basic education in the arts will remain unchanged. Facilities remained closed and contact teaching in them was suspended.

The Emergency Powers Act and the statutes adopted by virtue of it also apply to the Åland Islands, even though the content of Åland’s legislation does not fully correspond to the content of the national laws referred to in the Emergency Powers Act and the decree on the application of the Emergency Powers Act.

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