Administration in education
In Finland educational legislation is passed and the general principles governing education are determined by Parliament.
The Government and the Ministry of Education and Culture, as part of it, formulate and implement education policy. The lines of education and science policy are determined in a development plan for education and research, which is adopted by the government.
The national education administration is organised at two levels. Education policy is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Culture. A national agency, the Finnish National Board of Education, is responsible for the implementation of the policy aims. It works with the Ministry to develop educational objectives, content and methods for early childhood, pre-primary, basic, upper secondary and adult education.
Local administration is the responsibility of local authorities, most commonly municipalities or joint municipal authorities. These make the decisions on allocation of funding, local curricula, recruitment of personnel. The municipalities have also the autonomy to delegate the decision-making power to the schools. Typically the principals recruit the staff of their schools.