Tuula Haatainen Minister of Education and Science Tuula Haatainen, born 1960, has been the Minister of Education and Science of Finland since April 2003. Haatainen is a qualified nurse and holds a degree of Master of Social Sciences. She belongs to the Finnish Social Democratic Party and in addition to working as a nurse and research assistant, she has also worked as the general secretary of the Social Democratic Women. Haatainen has been a Member of Parliament since 1996. She has held many confidential posts especially in the field of health services and is at the moment a member of the Helsinki City Council.

Equal right to quality education for all

Education as a human right is the point of departure for the Dakar Framework for Action which underpins the ongoing Education for All process. The Finnish education policy rests on the same premise. We believe that it is for the public sector to guarantee everyone an equal right to education according to their abilities and special needs and a right to develop themselves irrespective of their gender, place of residence, age, language, cultural background or financial standing.

Basic security in education is everyone’s right. It includes the right to formal basic education free of charge, sufficient choice regarding educational content, and a safe learning environment. The principles of sustainable development and lifelong learning must be taken into account in teaching and other activities in different forms of education. Furthermore, education must be planned in cooperation with the social and other major partners in society.

I believe that teacher education and training is one of the most important factors in terms of quality of education. In Finland, the requirement for all teaching posts is university-level education. Thus, Finnish teachers acquire the qualifications required for approaching contents of teaching in an abstract, analytical and critical way of thinking. We also believe in the importance of effective and regular in-service training for teachers.

The UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) organized a study visit to Finland in April 2004 as part of its Advanced Training Programme in Educational Planning and Management. In its report, the IIEP summarizes the Finnish education system: equity in provision, quality of outcomes, autonomy at local level and institutional levels, and the high level of professionalism and commitment of the teachers.

Although internationally Finns have a high level of education and the level has been constantly rising over the past decades, we still have areas we need to develop in order to realise genuine “Education for All”. In the OECD PISA survey published in 2002, the reading, mathematical and scientific literacy of Finnish school students aged 15 was found to be very good. However, the recent EFA Monitoring Report revealed that Finland can hope to achieve gender equality in secondary education and training in 2015 at the earliest. The national EFA Development Plan already addresses the problem of balancing the gender structure in vocational and general upper secondary education. Finland has also taken initiative for a joint Nordic project “Different learners - common school”.