Sistema educativo finlandes

Finland:Organisation of the Education System and of its Structure
Compulsory education starts in the year when a child becomes seven years of age. During the year before compulsory education begins,the child can participate in pre-primary education. Local authorities may provide pre-primary education in schools, day-care centres, family day-care homes or in other appropriate places.Participation in pre-primary education is voluntary but the municipalities are obliged to provide pre-primary education.

The scope of the basic education syllabus is nine years, and nearly all childrensubject to compulsory education complete their basic education. Annually only around 200 young people drop out or leave basic education without completing the studies.

The objective of basic education isto support pupils' growth towards humanity and ethically responsible membership of society and to provide them with the knowledge and skills needed in life. The education should promote learning andequality in society as well as acquiring knowledge and skills that the students need in studying and developing themselves later in life. Education also aims at guaranteeing sufficient equality ineducation throughout the country.

After completing basic education, a young person can continue studying or enter working life. It is not considered advisable to move into working life immediately,but one of the objectives of education policy is to provide the whole of each age group with upper secondary education free of charge. If schooling is continued, a choice is usually made between generalupper secondary school and vocational education and training.

General upper secondary education builds on the basic education syllabus. The scope of the general upper secondary school syllabus isthree years. The upper secondary school syllabus should be completed within a maximum of four years, unless a student is granted a continuation of the completion period for a legitimate reason. At...