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Finance directors of Finnish vocational education and training (VET) providers visited Cedefop on 11 September accompanied by the country's Honorary Consul in Thessaloniki Marko Suomalainen to exchange information on recent VET developments in Finland and the European Union.
The Finnish national board of education has reformed all its 52 vocational qualifications. The fundamental goal is to strengthen the learning-outcome approach of vocational qualification requirements and the modular structure of qualifications, which supports flexible and individual learning paths and promotes validation of prior learning.
A recently published study of CIMO, the Finnish Centre for International Mobility, shows that vocational education and training (VET) teachers and other personnel in Finland participate actively in international mobility. Two thirds of internationally-mobile staff members are teachers and one third administrative personnel, such as international coordinators of schools.
The Ministry of Education and Culture has decided to restructure upper secondary education and training and liberal adult education from 2014 to 2016. This consists of the education providers’s network, the qualifications system and financing upper secondary education.
The polytechnics reform aims to strengthen polytechnics’ role as independent and responsible educators of experts, reformers of working life and builders of regional competitiveness. The reform is being implemented via changes in legislation and renewal of operating permits.
In a globalising world internationalisation and international competences are a basic factor for regional development. International competence can be strengthened through close cooperation at regional level and vocational education and training (VET) institutions play a key role in this.
The guidelines are intended for use by trainers of workplace instructors. The Finnish National Board of Education recommends that as many people as possible whose roles involve workplace instruction should be able to participate in training for workplace instructors. Workplace instructor training promotes the abilities of people to function as instructors and develop their own work. The training programme is suitable for training both workplace instructors and apprenticeship trainers.
The Youth Guarantee will offer everyone under the age of 25, as well as recent graduates under 30, a job, on-the-job training, a study place or rehabilitation within three months of becoming unemployed. The cross-administrative Youth Guarantee takes effect from the start of 2013.
The Finnish National Board of Education is conducting a study to anticipate changes needed in the number of entrants in vocational training and higher education up until the end of the current decade. According to the intermediate report by the Anticipation Unit, an increasing number of entrants in vocational education and training (VET) are required to meet the changing needs of workforce in the near future. By contrast, in higher education the need of entrants is going to decrease.