Contemporary Finnish School Legislation

Abstract

Although Finland was the first European country to grant women the right to vote (1906), in educational reform it has lagged behind other countries. The middle class, following their victory in the civil war in 1918, maintained the dual system-the elementary folk school for the masses, paralleled by preparatory and secondary schools for the middle and upper classes. No legal barriers prevented workers' children from attending secondary school, but economic factors and value preferences caused proportionately few lower-class children to attend. Until the end of the thirties about 10 per cent of each age group continued their studies in secondary school. But these social features of education have undergone a gradual transformation. Today all children are together in elementary school, and the proportion entering secondary school, usually from the fourth grade, is at least a third. Almost all working-class parents want their children to attain a higher economic and social position than their own, and the prevalent belief is that some secondary schooling is needed for this. Notwithstanding these developments the Finnish educational system has been resistant to the type of reorganization demanded by modern social and economic conditions. It is true that numerous educational committees have been at work and certain laws have been amended or even completely revised. But all too frequently amendment or revision has not been reform. This becomes clear as one examines contemporary legislation on elementary schools, secondary schools, vocational schools, and teacher training.