Finland: AI supports drafting national qualifications requirements

The Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) is responsible for maintaining 160 vocational qualifications and developing their content. Together, these qualifications comprise more than 3 400 qualification units. Each qualification unit must be regularly updated to reflect the evolving needs of the labour market.

In 2025, EDUFI launched the TESSA (Tekoälyllä sujuvaa sanoitusta ja osuvaa osaamista) project to develop AI agents to support experts in drafting qualification requirements across initial, further, and specialist vocational qualifications. Funded by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, TESSA aims to improve the efficiency, quality, and productivity of updating these requirements.

AI agents

Six unique AI agents were created during the project:

• AI agent for drafting qualification units in initial vocational qualifications
• AI agent for drafting qualification units in further vocational qualifications
• AI agent for drafting qualification units in specialist vocational qualifications
• AI agent for quality assessment of qualification units
• AI agent for ensuring clear language
• AI agent for compiling information on the newest competences in different occupations

These agents can generate draft qualification units in a defined format based on information about the skills required in each field. A quality assessment agent ensures that all units comply with shared guidelines. The use of AI agents has been integrated into the process of updating all qualification requirements to streamline and harmonise the output.

Experiences of using AI

Saving time in the process of updating qualification requirements is one of the clear benefits of using AI agents. However, the use of AI also requires a strong understanding of its nature and appropriate application. While learning to craft effective prompts is important, verifying the reliability of AI-generated text also demands strong subject-matter expertise. Experts must be able to identify issues such as AI hallucinations and critically evaluate outputs.

Attention must also be paid to the responsible use of AI, including careful consideration of ethical implications and the anticipation of potential negative impacts. It is also important to ensure transparency in the use of AI, as well as to safeguard data protection and information security.

The use of AI does not eliminate the need for expertise

Although the use of AI has accelerated the updating of qualification requirements, the need for expert input has not disappeared. AI agents can be used to create good initial drafts of qualification units, but refining these into final versions must still be carried out by experts. Moreover, the use of AI agents does not remove the need for dialogue with the world of work, other stakeholders, and teachers, which remains at the core of the qualification requirements update process.

More information about TESSA project in EDUFI’s website (in Finnish) and in Sitra’s website (in English).