European, global and intercultural dimension in curriculum development

Early childhood and school education

The currently valid National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care (2022)) emphasizes equality, cultural diversity, and children's rights. It guides early childhood education to support children’s growth into active, empathetic, and culturally aware members of society. The curriculum has been updated due to legislative changes.

In The national core curriculum 2019 internationality in school education is part of both the value base and the objectives for transversal competence. It is grounded in respect for human rights, a sustainable future, cultural diversity, and language awareness. Internationalization in education is implemented through internationalization at home, language learning, subject‑specific content, and multidisciplinary learning modules.The aim of recent comprehensive education reforms is to strengthen equality and the quality of education. Although the changes emphasize basic skills, the educational culture and learning environment continue to promote multilingualism, cultural understanding, and global education.Internationalization at home is visible, for example, in school projects, theme weeks, language education activities, and various digital cultural encounters.

The central goal of language education is to foster curiosity and an open-minded attitude toward different languages and cultures. A language‑aware school culture has become increasingly strong, and the entire school community participates in making languages visible.

General upper secondary education

The value base of National Core Curriculum for General Upper Secondary Education 2019  emphasizes human rights, ecosocial education, cultural diversity, and students’ readiness to operate in a global world.

One of the transversal competence areas in upper secondary education is cultural understanding and internationality. Students are guided to understand shared European and universal human values and to engage constructively in international contexts. International projects, student exchanges, and study periods abroad can be flexibly accredited as part of students’ studies.

In addition, many municipalities and educational institutions implement their own global education and internationalization plans, which complement the national core curriculum and strengthen students’ cultural competence and global citizenship.

Partnerships and networks

Internationality is becoming increasingly visible in Finnish schools and early childhood education and care through various forms of collaboration:

• Erasmus+ projects are common across all levels of education, including early childhood education and care.
• Many schools cooperate with foreign schools through student exchanges, joint projects, and virtual international encounters.
• International activities are often part of municipal strategies and are integrated into the operational culture and learning objectives.

The emphasis is on internationalization at home, sustainable development, intercultural interaction, and developing students’ readiness to operate in a global world.