Costos y gastos de la propuesta

In the ‘90s, adult education was used in Finland as a way of raising the population’s educational level and of improving skills and knowledge in response to the changes going on in working life and leisure. The mass unemployment suffered in the ‘90s and its consequences – specifically marginalization trends from the main arenas of modern society - face the adult population with particular demands. On the other hand, Finland is an ageing society, which poses new challenges to the adult education system. Not the least of these is the rapid advance of new communications and information technology into most areas of public life.

Side by side with these social challenges, Finnish adult education has been strongly influenced by the principle of lifelong learning. This should be understood broadly, as a principle guiding educational policy which covers the whole span of life and all levels of education, from pre-school to old age. It means that government and interest groups influencing education are pursuing a policy of learning promotion that offers the individual the potential for intellectual, aesthetic, moral and social growth, promoting the acquisition of information and knowledge throughout life and in various different operating environments. In addition, organizations (work communities and NGOs) are arranging their operations so as to promote learning, while the learning content embodies support for personal development, endorsement of democratic values, maintenance of social cohesion and promotion of innovation and productivity.

Finnish adults have quite a high level of education by international standards. An OECD comparison in 1998 showed that 68% of Finnish 25 to 64 year-olds had completed at least upper secondary education, against

POLYTECHNIC EDUCATION IN FINLAND

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an OECD average of only 61%. On the other hand, the percentage of those with a tertiary type A education1) _{in the same age group (13%) was} slightly below the OECD average (14%). However, the education breakdown among the Finnish population is marked by great differences between age groups. These make it quite difficult to raise the overall level of competence, education and skill, especially among ageing adults.

According to an international literacy survey published in 2000, Finland comes second, after Sweden. The more formal education a person has, the higher his level of literacy.

In spring 1995, the Government declared that its general education policy strategy was to raise the educational level of the whole population in accordance with the principles of lifelong learning. Various documents setting Government targets and objectives have since outlined concrete ways of raising the educational level and skills of the adult population. By providing education for the whole nation, the Government aimed to safeguard the capacity of the individual, society and business life equally to respond to international challenges and the new emphasis on the importance of knowledge and information. The nation’s ability to respond to change was viewed as depending essentially on its basic education, special skills and creativity.

5.3.1. FORMS OF ADULT EDUCATION AND ADULT

PARTICIPATION IN EDUCATION

Adult education is quite extensive in Finland. As a concept it covers adult education aiming at a degree at any level, general liberal education, and what is usually, in the European context, called ‘labour market training‘. In all cases, it is education and training for people of working age. It includes teaching leading to a basic qualification at all levels, component studies forming part of a degree or qualification, training for competence-based examinations, apprenticeship training, supplementary and continuing education to update and extend vocational and professional skills, social studies conferring civic and work community skills, and study purely for recreation.

The vocational and other education offered by Finnish institutions is

1) _{Including engineers’ degrees from technical institutes, and forestry engineers’ and ship’s captains’}

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not tied to age, and anyone with the desire and opportunity can take part2)_. Though access to adult education is ‘age-neutral’, tailored courses to meet the special needs of adults are common. There are some mature students on courses intended for young people, most of them at institutes of higher education, i.e. universities and polytechnics. Indeed, some 51% of students doing basic degrees at universities, and 43% of those doing undergraduate courses at polytechnics are over 25. Adult learning totally outside educational organizations is also common in Finland.

Table 16. Number of training organizations under the educational administration which can

arrange education and training for adults

Adult upper secondary schools and courses 54 Summer universities 20

Study centres 11

Physical education courses 14

Music institutes 89

Various specialist institutes 54 Vocational adult education centres and national specialist institutes 45 + 8 Vocational institutes 382*)

Polytechnics 29

Universities 20

Civic colleges 274

Folk high schools 91

*) _{About 200 bodies maintaining vocational institutes.}

Adult education is provided at roughly 1000 institutions, including every polytechnic. It strives to take the student’s former qualifications, skills and work experience into account. Consequently, it is usually possible to complete adult education degrees in a shorter time. All in all, there are well over three million attendances at adult education courses every year, and some 12.5 million hours of instruction.

By international standards, Finnish adults are eager to educate themselves. About 57% of all 25 to 64 year-olds have taken part in some kind of organized education in the previous 12 months.

2) _{Access to education may, of course, be limited by other factors, such as the individual’s earlier educational}

background, the labour market situation (in labour market training with age limits), or the employer’s willingness to pay for staff training and education.