From initial vocational qualifications to working life

– Evaluation of employment support as well as career planning and workplace skills

Paperisia ihmishahmoja ympyrässä. — Image: Silentgunman/Shutterstock

The evaluation produced evidence on the current situation of employment after vocational education and training (VET) and on how employment can be supported during initial vocational (IVET) qualification programmes. In addition, the evaluation identified good practices nationally and internationally. The evaluation was carried out in 2024–2026. In the first phase, the current state of employment was examined by compiling a statistical overview of the employment of vocational qualification graduates in different years.

In the second phase, the focus was on initial vocational qualifications as well as factors and practices that can be used to support and promote students’ transition to the labour market and their employment. A national evaluation team and an international expert panel were convened for the evaluation. The national evaluation team examined the anticipation of competence and labour needs in the working life, labour market relevance of VET, and support provided for students’ working life skills and employment opportunities and and based on the evaluation, provided development recommendations. In turn, the international expert panel examined Finnish IVET within an international framework, presented its key findings, and highlighted examples from other countries for promoting employment.

Evaluation data were collected by conducting surveys of VET providers, teaching and guidance staff and initial vocational qualification graduates. In addition to these, surveys to employers were conducted in collaboration with the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), Entrepreneurs in Finland and Local Government and County Employers (KT) and the international expert panel conduct interviews with key stakeholders.

Two final reports were published as part of the evaluation:

Report of the national evaluation group: From initial vocational qualifications to working life – Evaluation of employment support as well as career planning and workplace skills (in Finnish, summary in English)
Report of the international expert panel: Transitions from Initial Vocational Education and Training Qualifications to Working Life in Finland – Observations and Reflections from an International Expert Panel

Key conclusions and development recommendations of the national evaluation group

VET provision needs to be better aligned with the needs of employers

VET providers use a variety of sources of information for skills anticipation and in many cases engage in close cooperation with employers. However, the evaluation shows that skills anticipation is not yet sufficiently systematic and sufficiently linked to the planning of VET provision and related decision-making.

Employers are also satisfied with the smoothness of cooperation with VET providers, but there is room for improvement in terms of aligning VET with their needs and the availability of employees who have completed VET. VET providers should strengthen their skills anticipation activities, systematically gather information on the competence and labour needs of their local regions and utilise this information in a more targeted way in planning their VET provision, teaching and guidance. VET provision should be more effectively targeted towards sectors and professions with high employment rates. This also requires VET providers, employers, employment services and other regional actors to take shared responsibility for planning VET provision and services based on the needs of the region.

It is also important to ensure that the knowledge base for skills anticipation is sufficient at the national level and supports the coordination of national and regional VET and skills needs.

More opportunities to explore working life and strengthen working life connections are needed

Networking during studies, employer contacts and work-based learning are key factors in facilitating the transition to working life. Young students in particular often lack previous work experience and employer connections, which is why they need low-threshold opportunities to familiarise themselves with working life early on in their studies.

Early contacts with employers help students to get a feel for the jobs in their field, build networks and prepare them for actual work-based learning periods later on. It is also important to ensure that students have sufficient basic skills before taking part in work-based learning.

Work-based learning is an important stepping stone for students into working life, and many students later find employment in the workplaces where they participated in work-based learning. However, there is a need for more workplaces suitable for work-based learning and apprenticeships. At the same time, it is important to ensure that students with greater support needs also have access to suitable learning environments and sufficient support for their transition to working life. According to the evaluation, apprenticeship models should also be developed to make them more suitable for young people. This development work needs the input of VET providers, educational authorities and labour market organisations alike.

Career skills and guidance that promote employment should be strengthened.

Students need support to develop their career planning and jobseeking skills throughout their studies. While guidance and support for students to help them find employment is available, there is room for improvement in the content, timing and practices of this guidance. Particular attention should be paid to the acquisition and use of labour market and occupational knowledge, the assessment of different job and employment options and the ability to operate in a changing and uncertain labour market. Furthermore, it is important to strengthen students' capacity to build and leverage networks that support employment.

Guidance should form a clear and planned whole that persists throughout VET studies. This requires clarifying the responsibilities of and division of labour between teaching and guidance staff and strengthening guidance skills. At the same time, guidance must take better account of employment challenges and changes in the labour market, and the continuum of guidance must be strengthened at the transition phase in cooperation with employment services, Ohjaamo guidance centres and other similar bodies, for example.

From employers’ perspective, the basic vocational competence of recent graduates is mostly good or satisfactory, while their transferable skills were assessed as somewhat weaker

Based on the employer surveys conducted as part of the evaluation, employers mainly assess the basic vocational competence of the young people they have recruited after completion of an initial vocational qualification as good or at a moderate level. Their transferable skills were assessed as somewhat poorer than their basic vocational skills. As young people’s strengths were regarded their ability to learn new things, their social skills and their ability to receive feedback, among other things. Development needs were seen particularly in their time management, occupational safety, pressure tolerance, entrepreneurial skills, initiative and ability to work independently. Qualification holders themselves found that their time management skills, pressure tolerance and entrepreneurial skills had developed less well than other skills during the studies. The development of these skills should be strengthened in a goal-oriented and systematic manner throughout the studies, both in learning and guidance provided in VET institutions and in workplace education and training.

National career monitoring in VET should be developed.

There is currently no national qualitative career monitoring in VET. While register data provide an overview of qualification holders' placement, they produce no information on the quality of employment, relevance of competence to the needs of working life or factors affecting transitions to the labour market and further studies. Systematic national career monitoring is needed in VET to complement the current knowledge base and to support the development of education, decision-making, and efforts to promote qualification holders' employment.

Development recommendations of the national evaluation group

Anticipation of competence and labour needs in working life should be strengthened and more closely linked to the planning and decision-making of VET provision. VET provision should be oriented more effectively towards sectors and occupations with stronger employment prospects.
Career planning and guidance and support that promote employment should be developed into a coherent whole that progresses throughout the entire course of studies. Responsibilities and division of work in guidance and support should be defined more clearly. Guidance and support should better take into account the challenges of employment and improve the effectiveness of career planning.
Connections with working life during studies should be strengthened. Opportunities for work-life familiarisation should be increased for students who lack prior work experience. More suitable training and apprenticeship placements are needed, and apprenticeship models should be developed so that they are more often suitable also for young people.
In developing skills related to career planning and transition to working life, special attention should be paid to acquiring labour market and occupational information, reflecting on different work and employment options, understanding changes in working life, and networking skills.
Regarding skills for functioning in working life, particular emphasis should be placed on strengthening time management, occupational safety, resilience under pressure, entrepreneurship, and the ability to work proactively and independently.
National career monitoring of graduates from VET should be developed.

Key findings of the international expert panel

The international expert panel that complemented the evaluation considers the key strengths of Finnish VET to be educational equality, openness, and good opportunities to progress to higher education in particular. However, according to the panel, the high unemployment rate among young graduates with initial vocational qualifications also indicates structural challenges: links with working life are too weak in many fields, practices in work-based learning vary, and employer involvement in VET is not sufficiently established. Strengthening employment outcomes requires, in the panel’s view, stronger cooperation structures between VET and working life, as well as more sustained commitment from employers.

The panel also notes that, in Finland, the system for anticipating skills needs produces a substantial amount of information, but its steering effect remains limited. According to the panel’s interpretation, students’ educational choices are only weakly based on labour market information, and guidance in lower secondary education does not appear sufficient to bridge this gap.

With regard to work-based learning, the panel draws attention to the relatively weak regulatory framework and the considerable variation in the duration of work-based learning periods. Employers do not receive financial compensation for training agreement–based work-based learning, and the lack of cost-sharing mechanisms, combined with supervisory requirements, may limit employer participation. International evidence suggests that strengthening high-quality work-based learning requires institutional support structures, such as intermediary organisations, shared funding models, and clear quality assurance practices.

The panel also identified a trade-off between two key objectives of education: on the one hand, promoting employment, and on the other, supporting progression to higher education. According to international research evidence, these objectives are not always easily compatible. Strengthening transitions of vocational graduates, particularly to universities of applied sciences, could help reduce unemployment, as some graduates would continue directly to further studies instead of entering the labour market. However, the desired impact will not materialise unless strong vocational competence is also ensured for those who do not continue their studies but enter working life.

The Finnish governance system for VET is highly decentralised and based on trust, granting providers considerable autonomy to respond to local labour market needs. However, the panel considers that such a decentralised system also makes it more difficult to disseminate good practices across regions. Limited institutional structures for employer participation create variation in how well cooperation between VET providers and employers functions. In recent years, governance has evolved towards a hybrid model combining local autonomy with, for example, performance-based funding. At the same time, the panel emphasises that outcomes related to employment are influenced by regional economic conditions and are therefore not entirely within the control of VET providers.

According to the panel’s observations, the role of VET in Finland’s national innovation system has remained limited. It is primarily seen as a provider of workforce skills rather than an active driver of innovation. Although there are examples of successful local cooperation with universities of applied sciences, these initiatives are fragmented. The panel suggests that the contribution of VET to innovation and regional development could be defined much more clearly and further strengthened.

Finally, the panel highlights that Finnish VET enables individual learning paths and strong recognition and validation of prior learning. While these features are valuable for adult learners, they may pose challenges for younger students. Extensive individualisation can weaken the formation of a shared professional identity and make it more difficult for teachers to provide consistent support to students.