Marginal conditions for organising general upper secondary education (LUKORE).

The preconditions for organising general upper secondary education and its accessibility have been examined in the context of education policy and Government Programmes, especially since the early 2010s. The declining age groups, differentiation of municipalities' operating environments and the state of general government finances make it necessary to reform the organisation of general upper secondary education to ensure that the accessibility of education and equal realisation of cultural rights in different regions can also be guaranteed in the future, both in Finnish and Swedish. Another issue to be examined is what an extensive national network of general upper secondary schools will mean in the future and what kind of national steering will be needed to make it possible.

The purpose of our evaluation is to build an overall picture of the marginal conditions for organising general upper secondary education and the key strengths and development areas associated with them, both nationally and locally. The evaluation also looks at how general upper secondary education has prepared and will prepare for changes in the operating environment, especially a reduction in the number of young people at general upper secondary school age in many regions. 

Key concepts of the evaluation

Key concepts in our evaluation are general upper secondary education, general upper secondary education provider, organisation of general upper secondary education, delivery of general upper secondary education, operating environment, accessibility, marginal condition for organising general upper secondary education, situational awareness and preparedness.  A detailed description of the concepts is included in the project plan.

In this evaluation, general upper secondary education refers to general upper secondary education aiming for a qualification for both young people and adults, which have their specific national core curricula and local curricula.

The organisation of general upper secondary education refers to the way in which the responsibilities, legal ownership and funding of the education are arranged. Education providers may include municipalities, joint municipal authorities, registered organisations and foundations as well as state-run educational institutions. Delivery refers to different ways and forms of implementing upper secondary school studies. 

LUKORE expert group

An expert group has been appointed to support the conduct of the evaluation by participating in planning data collections and interpreting the results. The expert group will also take part in drawing up the conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation.

The expert group members are:

• Mari Aalto, Director of Upper Secondary Education, City of Tampere
• Bob Karlsson, Principal, Municipality of Kimitoön
• Osmo Huhtala, Principal, City of Rovaniemi
• Suvi Jokila, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Turku
• Marika Kettunen, Doctoral Researcher, University of Oulu

Sustainable development and the organisation of general upper secondary education

Sustainable development is one of FINEEC’s strategic priorities for the evaluation plan period 2024–2027, and this theme is also integrated into the present evaluation. Sustainable development is examined in the evaluation from the perspectives of accessibility, situational awareness and preparedness. 

Accessibility of general upper secondary education promotes social sustainability as different regions and operating environments strive to provide possibilities of attending general upper secondary education leading to a qualification. Accessibility also covers the provision of education in both national languages and in English. Preparedness and situational awareness promote economically and socially sustainable development. 

Evaluation data

In the planning phase of the evaluation, a wide selection of pre-existing statistics, previous evaluations conducted by FINEEC and other documents, including working group reports, were used. Principals at general upper secondary schools of different sizes, authorities and stakeholders were also interviewed. 

Three surveys will be carried out in the evaluation. These surveys will be targeted at general upper secondary education providers (all), general upper secondary school principals (a sample) and general upper secondary school staff (a sample). The surveys will be conducted in 2025.

The evaluation will also gather data by continuing online interviews that were started in the planning phase. The evaluators can additionally visit various upper secondary schools and regions of different types. The locations and dates of the interviews and visits will be specified during the evaluation.

The evaluation will also draw on statistics concerning funding and student numbers as well as various demographic projection

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