Minister of Education Krista Kiuru was beaming on Yle’s morning TV-show on Friday, as the government decided to lengthen compulsory education by one year – just as Kiuru had proposed. This was the latest in a string of victories for the Social Democrat Minister, who has seen all her major initiatives through.
Not everyone was so pleased, however. Finland’s High School Confederation and Student Alliance Osku criticised the move. Instead of forcing youngsters into 2 level education, the high school confederation would prefer more investment into career counselling. The student organisations also said the reform could lead to youngsters just studying for an extra year, and ending their school careers there.
The Finnish National Board of Education Director Jorma Kauppinen also sees this danger, saying that while others may discover their study motivation during the extra year, others may drop out afterwards.
Support for the extra year
According to Careers counsellors at Helsinki Vocational College, it’s usually personal problems or the wrong field of study that lead to students dropping out.
Career counsellor Maija Somerkivi says a year is a long time for a young person, and that compulsory education could well end after this. She believes the extra year could be beneficial if school-leavers are given more choices where to apply for this, and if more work practice opportunities were included in the year.
Hairdressing students Jenni Heikkilä from Espoo and Mira Holli from Helsinki are receptive to the reform.
Holli notes that future studies are not such a central concern to many youngsters on the 9 grade, which is currently the last year of compulsory education.
One year of second level education could help students get a bit more into studying, and realising this is not so bad after all, the hairdressing student muses. Graduation to a job would then not be far off.
