Policy and curriculum

Finland's 2025 basic education reforms explained

Responding to a decade-long decline in PISA scores, Finland added extra weekly lessons in mathematics and the language of instruction from August 2025, alongside a strengthened model of learning support.

In brief

Finnish students' basic skills have declined since 2012: PISA 2022 showed underachievement rising by roughly 10 to 13 percentage points across maths, reading and science.
From August 2025, schools must add one weekly lesson of the language of instruction and mathematics in grade 1 or 2, and a further weekly lesson of the language of instruction in grades 3 to 6.
A separate reform, also effective August 2025, strengthens learning support from pre-primary through lower secondary using differentiated instruction and co-teaching.
The government has committed around EUR 200 million in additional basic education funding over the current electoral term.
A funding mechanism directing EUR 50 million a year to schools in socio-economically challenging areas has been made permanent.

Why Finland changed course

Finnish pupils' basic skills have been slipping for over a decade. Between the 2012 and 2022 rounds of PISA, the share of underachieving students rose by roughly 10 to 13 percentage points across mathematics, reading and science. Finland's results remain above the EU average, but the consistency of the decline was enough to prompt the government to add teaching time and support rather than wait for the trend to reverse on its own.

A stronger, earlier layer of learning support

A parallel reform, also effective from August 2025, strengthens learning support from pre-primary through lower secondary education, built around differentiated instruction and co-teaching rather than removing struggling pupils from the mainstream classroom. It builds on the same logic as Finland's existing three-tier support model, giving schools more capacity to act on that model earlier.

What this means for schools following Finnish pedagogy

The government has committed around EUR 200 million in additional basic education funding over the current electoral term, and made permanent a separate EUR 50 million a year fund for schools in socio-economically challenging areas. None of this replaces phenomenon-based learning or low-stakes assessment; it adds hours and support capacity within the same national curriculum, which is worth knowing if a parent or school leader asks whether Finland is quietly abandoning its own model in response to falling scores. It is not: it is investing more in the same foundations.

Frequently asked questions

Does this mean Finland is moving away from phenomenon-based, play-based learning?

No. The reforms add teaching hours and support structures within the existing national curriculum; they do not replace phenomenon-based learning or early-years play, they add more time for core literacy and numeracy alongside it.

Which grades are most affected?

The added lesson hours target grades 1 to 6, exactly the primary years, with an extra lesson of the language of instruction and mathematics in grade 1 or 2, and a further language lesson somewhere in grades 3 to 6.

Is Finland's PISA decline as severe as some headlines suggest?

Finnish results have fallen from a very high base and remain above the EU average, but the drop has been consistent enough since 2012 that the government judged new investment and lesson-hour changes were needed.

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