Finnish teachers’ union retracts claim on vocational school teaching hours

The Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ) has retracted its earlier claim that most under-18 students in vocational education receive less teaching than legally required.

In a correction issued Friday, OAJ acknowledged it had misinterpreted data obtained from the Finnish National Agency for Education, which had formed the basis of its initial June report. The union now states the data does not allow conclusions to be drawn about the actual amount of teaching and guidance provided.

“We deeply regret the error and want to immediately correct our previous analysis of the material,” said Nina Lahtinen, OAJ’s director of education policy, in a statement.

Yle had previously reported on the issue based on OAJ’s now-retracted information.