Reform of continuous learning

The Act on establishing a Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment entered into force in September 2021 with the aim to promote the competence development of working-age people and the availability of skilled labour through:

1. analysing the competence and labour market needs of working life;
2. financing education and training intended for working-age people;
3. developing information, advisory and guidance services;
4. supporting regional and other cooperation.

Located at the premises of the Finnish National Agency for Education and serving as a separate organisational unit for the agency, the service centre also participated in the development of a digital service package for continuous learning.

In 2022, the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment launched the recruitment of most of its staff. The Board of the Centre approved operational focus areas for year 2022. First calls for applications of funding were opened in April 2022.

In 2022, the centre implemented six government grants financing more than 170 projects; three procurements of competence services, two of which were of energy technology related training and one for trade sector; an outreach intervention pilot project, linked with extensive research carried out by ETLA Economic Research and the Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE (see details below); and a regional pilot project: short-term training of management in seasonal agriculture work.

The Outreach Intervention Pilot Project comprised research by the ETLA Economic Research, the Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. The Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment has tendered for service providers, who contacted companies and arranged group guidance sessions for them. A total of at least 1 200 group sessions are to be held in small and medium-size companies all over Finland. At least one person with only a basic-level degree must participate in each session.

In 2022, the centre started developing a new type of digital information platform for the anticipation of needs for continuous learning funded from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The basis of the platform is to provide timely, reliable and customer-oriented competence anticipation information, where short- and medium-term information about skills needed can be combined and scaled both regionally and nationally. The platform to offer precise information about changes in needed skills, also categorised by industry. In 2022, customer needs and situations for using the information were mapped, the most important cases of use were defined, a data strategy was drawn up and suppliers of the technical implementation of the analytics system and information service were tendered for. The programming development began in January 2023.

The financed projects and services of the centre started during the fall of 2022. According, a total of approximately 17 000 people are to participate in these services. The training services constituted parts of a degree or smaller entities and could be completed while working.

The centre also launched a feasibility study of increasing participation in education by sharing education information and group guidance at workplaces for those with basic education certificate. The project consisted of two randomised field experiments.

The government published the final report of the project to reform continuous learning. According to the report, the objectives and guidelines of the continuous learning reform were crucial, but their implementation and achievement still required resources and investments. The actual reform project ended in March 2023.

In 2023, the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment released a beta version of Skills Needs Compass and its contents developed during the year. This new service provided reliable and up-to-date information on future skills needs from the perspective of continuous learning.

In addition, the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment funded projects relevant from the perspective of employment and continuous learning. The goals of the projects included, for example, strengthening the availability of workforce, combating unemployment, and ensuring the workforce is prepared with skills to meet the demands of the future labour market.

Work was done on the Digital service package for continuous learning operated by Ministry of Education and Culture, significantly through pilot experiments, and an ecosystem model, laying the foundation for future actions and development.

The Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment (JOTPA) established its activities. In 2024, JOTPA granted VET education providers funding to improve the availability of skilled labour and to promote digitalisation and green transition.

The work on Digital service package for continuous learning developed by the Ministry of Education and Culture continued in 2024. The digital service was named Competency Path (Osaamispolku). The core objective was to build a digital service to support individuals in making educational and career choices and maintaining and developing their competence throughout their careers and lives. The goal was also to promote a better match between work, competence, and demand and supply of education. For example, a completely new forecasting section was created by EDUFI in Vipunen, a national service offering statistical data on education.