The National Education Evaluation Plan steers the upcoming evaluation period towards important societal topics

Release Vocational education Pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education Higher education General upper secondary education Basic education in the arts Liberal adult education Early childhood education and care

The Education Evaluation Plan for 2024–2027 and the new FINEEC strategy have been published. Strategic objectives include raising competence and education levels, fostering social, ecological and economic sustainable development and continuous improvement of the quality of education.

National evaluation supports the development of education at all levels

In the new evaluation plan, the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC) is taking on common concerns about the decline in learning outcomes and well-being at school. Assessments of learning outcomes in pre-primary and primary and lower secondary education produce information on the realisation of equity in education and the level of competence and achievement of goals in relation to curricula.  The learning outcomes of vocational education and training are examined to see how students achieve the learning outcomes and vocational skills requirements set in qualification requirements. Evaluations of the fields of higher education produce information on the ability of higher education institutions to respond to changing competence requirements and future operating environments. In addition, an evaluation project on teaching, teacherhood and pedagogical leadership will be carried out at several levels of education. 

Another topical theme is the realisation of sustainability competence. FINEEC fosters social, ecological and sustainable development with thematic evaluations concerning different levels of education, from ECEC to higher education. The sustainability transition requires competences that support change and focus on ethical reflection and future-oriented thinking. During the upcoming four-year period, FINEEC will also carry out the following thematic reviews: “Evaluation of the realisation of ECEC for children under the age of three”, “Marginal conditions for organising general upper secondary education”, “Finding employment after vocational education, “Societal impact and accessibility of liberal adult education”. 

The third important theme is continuous improvement of the quality of education. FINEEC plays a special role in the quality management of providers of different levels of education, as there is no other national operator that supports the quality-related efforts of education providers. For example, the Valssi quality evaluation system maintained by FINEEC is a central part of support for quality management in ECEC. For vocational education and training, the upcoming period will involve monitoring the development recommendations for quality management and the start of plans for a new evaluation model.

FINEEC evaluations are development-oriented and transformative

“FINEEC’s strategic objectives have now been linked even more closely to the objectives of evaluation activities. The starting point in FINEEC’s evaluations is a systemic view of the phenomena in education, the interconnections between matters and the changing operating environment. For this, you need to see the big picture. With the new strategy, we can now carry out effective and independent evaluation by supporting the objectives of education”, says Harri Peltoniemi, Director of FINEEC. 

Vice President Hannele Seppälä continues: "The evaluations will be even better at supporting development and decision-making. We are continuously developing our evaluation methods, and the starting points for evaluations include topical considerations and future competence needs. During this period, we will also strengthen cooperation between information producers in the education sector. We will also compile education system-level syntheses with the help of the national knowledge base.”

Mari Räkköläinen and Mafi Saarilammi, strategic developers at FINEEC, point out that the FINEEC strategy and the evaluation plan are based on extensive preparatory work where FINEEC consulted hundreds of evaluation participants and the parties who utilise the evaluation results. During the consultation rounds, FINEEC received more than 200 evaluation initiatives. We would like to extend warm thanks to everyone who contributed to the preparations!

Evaluation plan guides evaluation activities

FINEEC’s activities are guided by the National Education Evaluation Plan, which describes evaluations and their timetables for a four-year period. The Ministry of Education and Culture approved the new Education Evaluation Plan on 22 February 2024.

Evaluation activities produce information for national decision-making and the development of early childhood education and care, education and training providers and higher education institutions

Read more about evaluations: National Education Evaluation Plan 2024–2027
Read more about the FINEEC strategy.

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