Religion began as paganism, mythology and magic. The traditions were partly indigenous, but also influenced by Baltic and Norse paganism. Song magic and bear worship are distinctive marks of the ancient religion. Prior to Christianisation in the 11th century, Finnish paganism was the primary religion. Christianity entered Finnish culture in the 12th century [4]. Today, 80.6% of Finns belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church[5] and 1.1% belong to the Finnish Orthodox Church[6]. In general, Finns are secular in their views.
With the emergence of reform, the Compulsory Education Act made education a civil right and available to all citizens, except for tertiary education, which is free of charge and admissions are based strictly on test scores. The beliefs of the Finns are future employment security necessitating higher education in today's increasingly technological world (Kyr, M. & Nyysol, K., 2006).