Researcher warns school curriculum reform is moving too fast

Finland is revising the national curriculum for basic education at too rapid a pace, risking a greater focus on what can be measured than on values and attitudes, University of Helsinki associate professor Hannele Cantell told Yle.

Cantell is part of a working group updating the environmental studies section of the curriculum. The national guidelines set the framework for teaching in schools across Finland, and municipalities use them to draw up their own local curricula.

A change to the law approved by Parliament in June prompted the revision, which aims to make pupil assessment more consistent. The new guidelines will set minimum requirements for each grade and subject, including what pupils need to know to earn a grade of five and progress to the next grade. They will also define the skills required for grades eight and ten.

The reform will make learning objectives more specific, reduce their number and assign subject content to individual grades. At present, national guidance often specifies what pupils should cover during a whole stage of schooling, leaving municipalities to decide when to teach it.

Under the new approach, the guidelines will list only objectives that can be assessed with grades. References to values and attitudes, such as caring for nature and acting fairly, will not be removed but moved from learning objectives to broader subject descriptions.

Cantell fears that this could shift classroom priorities towards measurable knowledge and leave less time for skills and aims that are harder to assess. She said schools could feel pressure to cover facts rather than, for example, take pupils outside to study trees. Enthusiasm and skills for influencing society could also receive less attention, she warned.

She said working groups have less than three months to prepare draft revisions and meet online once a week. Cantell also believes there has been too little public discussion, and said some local decision-makers and headteachers were unaware that the curriculum was being revised. She questioned whether new learning materials could be produced in time.

Yle reported that one of Cantell’s colleagues shared her concerns about the pace, while some others involved in the working groups were more confident. Some declined to comment, citing the groups’ guidance or the fact that the work is unfinished. The Finnish National Agency for Education’s Terhi Nissinen said the timetable is sufficient. The reform is due to reach schools in autumn 2028.