Concepts and definitions
- Applicants to education
Applicants to education within the joint application procedure system: in the joint application procedure of upper secondary general school and vocational education, applicants during the calendar year to education leading to a qualification.
Applicants to tertiary education: applicants to polytechnic education or university education during the calendar year.
In the statistics the applicants are counted so that one application is recognised from one person according to priority, level or field of education or some other variable (e.g. educational institution).
- Completers of comprehensive school
In the statistics on comprehensive school education and on entrance to education completers of comprehensive education refer to pupils who have satisfactorily completed the full comprehensive school syllabus and received a school-leaving certificate from comprehensive school. The full comprehensive school syllabus can be completed in comprehensive schools, upper secondary general schools and folk high schools.
- Education
Education refers here to education leading to a qualification or degree.
Education leading to a qualification or degree (qualification or degree-oriented education)refers to education leading to the completion of the full syllabus of comprehensive school (school-leaving certificate), completion of the full syllabus of upper secondary general school (matriculation examination certificate), International Baccalaureate certificate, Reifeprüfung certificate, European Baccalaureate certificate, Gymnasieexamen certificate, initial vocational qualification, basic vocational qualification, specialist vocational qualification, polytechnic degree, higher polytechnic degree or university degree.
Education leading to a qualification or degree is classified by the classification of education.
- Educational institution
An educational institution refers to an administrative unit with a principal or other head, which has teachers and other personnel in its service (role of employers), and which is liable to keep books and compile other documentation, in which students are registered, whose activities are regulated by a legal act or decree, which follows a national curriculum, and which is financed and controlled by a public authority. An educational institution does not refer to a school building or facility. A new educational institution is established, an educational institution is abolished or merged with another educational institution at the decision of the organiser of education (maintainer of the educational institution) or a public authority.
Statistics Finland has assigned an individualised educational institution ID to each educational institution. Educational institutions are classified according to a classification of types of educational institutions.
- Educational system
The Finnish educational system is comprised of the following:
Pre-primary education is provided in Finland to children between the ages of three and six, usually at children's day care homes. Some 6-year-old children receive pre-primary education in comprehensive schools. Attendance of pre-primary education is voluntary.
Comprehensive school education is general knowledge education provided for entire age cohorts. All children permanently resident in Finland must attend compulsory education. Compulsory education starts in the year of the child's seventh birthday.
Compulsory education finishes when the syllabus of comprehensives school education has been completed (9-year comprehensive school), or 10 years from the start of compulsory education. In exceptional cases compulsory education may start already at the age of six and last 11 years due to a disability or illness. A student who has received a leaving certificate from comprehensive school in the same year or in the year before it may continue to attend optional additional education (10th grade).Post-comprehensive school education, or upper secondary general education and vocational education represent secondary level of education. Upper secondary general school education is education leading to a matriculation examination. Its scope is three years and it gives general eligibility to further education. Vocational education can be either educational institution-based or apprenticeship training. In apprenticeship training, most of the studying is comprised of learning through practical work tasks at a workplace. The qualifications are initial vocational qualifications attained in three years, which also give general eligibility to further polytechnic or university studies.
Further and specialist vocational qualifications represent further vocational education. They, as well as initial vocational qualifications can be attained in a skills examination that can be taken irrespective of the way of acquisition of professional skills, and in which skills can be proven on the basis of preparatory education for a skills examination or work experience.
Attainment of polytechnic degrees takes 3.5 to 4.5 years and higher polytechnic degrees requiring work practice 1-1.5 years. Attainment of lower university degrees takes three years while higher university degrees take two years longer. Attainers of higher level university degrees may continue their studies to licentiate and doctorate level degrees.
- Employed
The employed labour force comprises all persons between 18-74 who were employed during the reference week and were neither registered as unemployed jobseekers at the labour exhange office nor undergoing military or non-military service. Information on employment is based on data from employment pension and tax authorities.
- Main type of activity
The concept of main type of activity describes the nature of a person's economic activity. The population is divided into people in the labour force and those outside the labour force. These categories can further be divided into subgroups. The classification is based on data on a person's main type of activity during the last week of the year.
The following classification is used:
Labour force
- employed labour force
- unemployed
Persons outside the labour force
- 0-14-year-olds
- students, pupils
- pensioners
- conscripts, conscientious objectors
- others outside the labour force.
Information on the main type of activity is based on data obtained from various registers. Where the data conflict as to whether a person is in the labour force or outside it, priority is given to the former. If, within the labour force, the data conflict as to whether a person is unemployed or employed, priority is given to the former.
The group "others outside the labour force" consists of persons who are not in the labour force and do not belong to the following groups: 0-14-year-olds, students, conscripts, conscientous objectors or pensioners.
- Matriculation examination
Matriculation examination refers to a final examination of upper secondary general school which is set by the matriculation examination board and which a student studying the full upper secondary general school syllabus can take. Satisfactory pass of the matriculation examination leads to a matriculation examination certificate.
- New student
In the statistics on entrants to education and progress of studies new students in upper secondary general education and polytechnic education refer to the students studying on 20 September who had registered into certain studies in the educational institution concerned between 1 January and 20 September and, since 2002, in polytechnic education students who had reported themselves as present or absent for the first time. In vocational education new students refer to the students studying in curriculum-based vocational education on 20 September who had registered into the educational institution concerned between 1 January and 20 September and, since 2004, the students attending preparatory education for a skills examination or with apprenticeship training agreements who had registered into the educational institution concerned between 1 January and 31 December. In the statistics on university education new students refer to the students new to the university who had started studies leading to a lower or upper university degree and were studying on 20 September. The number of new students is lower than in other statistics by sector of education because it only includes students with a correct Finnish personal ID number and because a new student is only included once in the number of students by sector of education, level of education or some other variable, such as educational institute.
Up to 2001, a new student in polytechnic education was a student having registered as present for the first time. Up to 2001, a new student in university education was one who had started studies at the university concerned during the calendar year.
- Sector of education
In the statistics on educational institutions, education is divided into the following sectors of education:
- Comprehensive school education
- Upper secondary general education
- Vocational education
- Polytechnic education
- University education.
- Unemployed
The unemployed labour force comprises persons aged 15-74 who were unemployed on the last working day of the year. Data on unemployment are obtained from the Ministry of Labour's register on job applicants.
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF):
Entrance to education [e-publication].
ISSN=1799-4527. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 20.6.2013].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/khak/kas_en.html.
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