Plan for Education Evaluation 2020–2023

The themes and schedules of FINEEC's future evaluations are determined in the National Plan for Education Evaluations. The evaluation plans are prepared for a four-year period at a time, and they cover all levels from early childhood education and care to higher education. 

In addition to individual evaluations and their schedules, the evaluation plan identifies the focus areas of FINEEC's evaluations, or their key societal themes, for the four-year period in question. Read more about the focus areas of FINEEC's evaluations. 

Preparation of the evaluation plan 

The evaluation plan is drawn up and any modifications to it are made by the government-appointed Evaluation Council that operates in conjunction with FINEEC. Different stakeholders across a broad front are consulted when preparing the evaluation plan, and themes for future evaluations may also be proposed by any of them. Factors accounted for when preparing the evaluation plan include building a national knowledge base for education, tapping information acquired previously and produced by other actors, and education themes topical for society. 

The proposal for an evaluation plan is approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture. 

Evaluation plan updates 

While the evaluation plan is drawn up for four years at a time, it can also be modified if this is necessitated by education policy reforms and other changes. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the plan was complemented with an evaluation of how the exceptional circumstances affected learning, while some other evaluations were rescheduled for later. Such modifications are approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture on the basis of the Council’s proposal. 

FINEEC always reviews the evaluation plan with the Ministry of Education and Culture at least once halfway through the planning period. In this review, completed evaluations and their findings are examined, and any changes to the plan are discussed.