As a summary there are three special characteristics in Finnish curriculum design:
- The national level curriculum is a frame and municipalities and schools create a local
curriculum. The local curriculum is both a process and a product. The process nature
empowers teachers in planning processes and increases teachers’ ownership in the
curriculum.
- The aims, written in a general form, are most important in the curriculum – the
syllabus does not exist in a traditional way. Form of learning outcomes is not used while
writing the aims. The aims are written for grade groups, like 1 – 4. Teachers have freedom
in the implementation of the curriculum according to the aims. Moreover, they have
freedom in the selection of teaching methods and teaching materials.- Equal value is given to all 13 school subjects at the primary and lower secondary level.
The subjects are taught by highly specialised secondary teachers from the beginning of the
lower secondary school