Management, Leadership, and Governance in Secondary Education (Finland)

Abstract

The Finnish nine year basic education system consists six years of primary (ISCED 1) and three years of lower secondary education (ISCED 2). One of the key principles is that after renowned basic education, provided along comprehensive and universalist principles, all young people should have equal opportunity to undertake high-quality upper secondary education and training. The same educational opportunities should be available to everybody irrespective of their ethnicity, migration background, age, gender, wealth, disability or place of residence. After the nine years of comprehensive education, the Finnish system diversifies into two non-compulsory branches and tracks students into general upper secondary schools and vocational upper secondary institutions (ISCED 3). This transition is a high stakes situation in the Finnish education system.