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.