Changing Environment and Quality Management

Finland's school system has undergone several changes during the past few years and these have been felt at the national, the local level and at the level of the education provider. The position of quality management and assessment has become emphasised in vocational education and training as the powers of decision have been delegated to the players at the local level and there has been increasingly a shift away from the proactive regulation in the educational process to legislation based on the results of the education. Various other changes in the environment, e.g. international and local cooperation and the quality work done by working life organisations and other interest groups, have also had a great impact. The Common Quality Assurance Framework (CQAF) jointly developed at the EU-level is a prime example of an approach, which poses challenges to both education providers as well as the education systems in regard to factors important from the viewpoint of quality and its development needing to be paid attention to. 

The quality of vocational education and training embodies the ability of both the education system as well as of individual educational institution to respond to the needs of society, the working life, other interest groups and customers. When the quality of education is examined from the nationwide perspective, especially the demand for homogeneity of education becomes emphasised in Finland and also for ensuring its minimum quality, but without forgetting top quality, however. Ultimately, the quality of education is determined in the interaction process between the teacher and the student, and one aspect of its manifestation is in good learning results.

The pivotal task of quality management and quality assessment is to support development efforts taking place at various levels and in various organisations. For success to be achieved in this task, it is important for quality assessment and quality assurance done at the various levels to form a wholeness, which in turn supports decision-making both in regard to education policy and decision-making at the local level as well as teachers in their work and students in their learning process.

The central challenges facing vocational education and training are connected to the implementing of the objectives of the EU’s Copenhagen Process. Improving the quality of education and training is one of the foremost objectives in this connection. This is supported by development of the Common Quality Assurance Framework (CQAF).

In order to achieve the objectives of the Copenhagen Process, we are endeavouring to develop the financing and steering systems in vocational education and training to be such that they encourage players to improve the quality and performance of education.  The present financing and steering systems in vocational education and training give providers of education plenty of powers of decision in regard to how educational offering is focused and how the resources allocated to education are used. On the one hand, this allows providers of education certain liberties, but also imposes, on the other hand, certain responsibilities regarding the organising of activities and thereby quality management in education. The particular challenge facing education administration is how to use the various mechanisms of quality management to construct a wholeness, which will enable support for education providers and their quality management, and a steering influence on educational activities so that the objectives of educational policy can be achieved.