This document provides an overview of the education system in Espoo, Finland from the perspective of the Deputy Mayor of Education and Culture. It discusses the decentralized nature of the Finnish education system, with curriculum developed at the national, local, and individual school levels. It emphasizes the role of competent, autonomous teachers and student participation through student associations as factors in Finland's high performance in international assessments like PISA.

1. Evaluation in the
decentralised System –
Innovative approach
Sampo Suihko

2. Content of presentation
• Espoo – speakers homecourt
• Finnish necessity – education for all
• Perspective from a providers sight
• What are we evaluating – and why
• How we are evaluating
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3. Backround of the speaker
• City of Espoo; Deputy Mayor of Education and Culture
• EUproVET, Chairman of the Board
• VET Finland, Vice-Chairman of the Board
• Finnish Education Evaluation Council; member of experts
• Quality Prize Committee; member of experts (vocational
education)
• International Coordination Committee; member of experts
(Ministry of Education)
• EU Twinning project in Egypt; Project Leader
”Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the
Productivity and Vocational Training Department”
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4. The City of Espoo
Mission Statement
The City of Espoo creates the preconditions
for a good quality of life for residents and
offers enterprises an internationally competitive
operational milieu that complies with the
principles of sustainable development.
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5. Centrally located between
Europe, Russia and Asia
Bangkok 9 h 45 min
Beijing 7 h 40 min
Berlin 1 h 55 min
Brussels 2 h 40 min
Chicago 9 h 35 min
Copenhagen 1 h 40 min
Frankfurt 2 h 40 min
Hong Kong 9 h 50 min
London 3 h 10 min
Moscow 1 h 45 min
o
Espoegion
iR
Delhi
New York
6 h 45 min
8 h 40 min
i nk
Hels Osaka 9 h 35 min
Paris 3 h 05 min
Seoul 8 h 45 min
Shanghai 8 h 55 min
Singapore 11 h 30 min
St Petersburg 1h
Stockholm 55 min
Tokyo 9 h 40 min
Toronto 8 h 50 min

6. A City like a Central Park
• The northern parts of Espoo are mainly fields and
forests, recreation and conservation areas.
• Nuuksio National Park is only 20 km air distance away
from Nokia headquarters.
• Green space is never further away than 1 km.
• 58 km coastline, 95 lakes and 165 islands
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7. A High-Tech Economy
• Northern Europe’s largest high-tech hub in Otaniemi
• Over 20 % of jobs in ICT
• Biggest employers are the municipality, Nokia, the Technical
Research Centre of Finland VTT and the Aalto University
• More than 60 % of turnover at Helsinki Stock Exchange
• About 400 global companies and headquarters,
including Nokia, Kone and Rovio
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8. A Young and
Fast Developing City
• The population has increased tenfold in the last fifty years
and by 2030 the population will grow by 24 % to 310,000.
• 20 % of our residents are under 15 (EU 15,5 %).
• 44 % of our residents over 15 have a university diploma (EU 23 %).
• Our international community will grow from 10 % to 17 % by 2030.
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9. Highest quality education
• The City of Espoo offers quality
services and versatile
recreational opportunities for its
residents
• The second largest city in
Finland (pop. around 260 000)
• As part of the metropolitan area,
Espoo is globally recognised as
a networked city with special
expertise in high technology,
education, culture, physical
exercise, research and
innovations
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10. A Good City to Grow Up In
• Decentralised day care: Small groups, always nearby
• Day care in Finnish, Swedish, English and French
• OECD: Finnish education is one of the best in the world
• Instruction in one’s mother tongue for 30 language groups
• Primary and secondary education in English
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
A good place to live, learn, work and enterprise in.

11. A Multifaceted Professional
Education Environment
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Laurea University of Applied Sciences
Omnia – Joint Authority of Education in Espoo Region

12. A World-Class University
• Aalto University – Where Science and Art meet Technology and Business
• 20,000 students, 340 professors, € 400M Budget
• Independent governance as foundation-based university
• Cooperation with e.g. Stanford University and Tongij University (CHN)
• Strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Nokia, PWC, Kone and others
• Aalto Center for Entrepreneurship

13. Key figures of schools
• 97 comprehensive schools with roughly 27 000 pupils
– 83 Finnish-speaking comprehensive schools
• 24 000 pupils, of which roughly 8 000 in middle schools
• about 2 000 teachers
– 12 Swedish-speaking comprehensive schools
• about 2 600 pupils in total
– 2 private schools
• 11 Finnish-speaking general upper secondary schools
– About 4 600 students and roughly 300 teachers
• 1 general upper secondary school for adults (about 1 500 students)
• 1 Swedish-speaking general upper secondary school (about 500
students)
• Several upper secondary vocational education and training
institutions, of which the largest is Omnia, about 10 000 students and 600
teachers 15.02.13
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14. Pre-primary education
• Given in schools and day-
care centres
• Lays emphasis on the
preparation for school
• Special attention is paid to
readiness for school
attendance, i.e. to the phase of
the child’s emotional, social
and cognitive development
• Approximately 98 % of Espoo’s
6-year-olds attend pre-primary
education
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15. How the schools are run
• The Education and Cultural Services of Espoo organise basic
education, pre-primary education and general upper secondary
education in the city and vocational education in the area together
with two other cities
• Teaching is provided in Finnish-speaking and Swedish-
speaking schools that are administered in different units
• Both units
• are responsible for organising, evaluating and developing
education in Finnish-speaking schools
• coordinate the organisation of student welfare and special support
to pupils
• arrange for continuing education to teachers in cooperation with
the schools
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16. Educational and Cultural Services
expenditure 2013 (676 EUR mil.)
Youth Other Educational
Urban culture 6 EUR mil. work
27 EUR mil. 27 EUR mil.
Sports and
Exercise
31 EUR mil.
Free educational
work
39 EUR mil.
Finnish Child Day
Swedish Child Day Care and
Care and Education
Education 482 EUR Mil.
54 EUR mil.
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17. The Finnish Education System
• Every citizen has the
right to receive education
• Basic education is free
for all
• The key words in Finnish
education policy are
quality, efficiency,
equity and
internationalisation.
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18. The Finnish Education system
Flexibility and diversity
• School-based curriculum development,
• Steering by information and support.
Emphasis on broad knowledge
• Equal value to all aspects of individual growth and learning:
personality, morality, creativity, knowledge and skills.
Trust through professionalism
• A culture of trust on teachers’ and headmasters’
professionalism in judging what is best for students
and in reporting of progress.
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19. The Finnish Education System
• pre-primary
education
• nine years of
basic
education
• general upper
secondary
education
or vocational
education and
training
• higher
education
• adult education 15.02.13
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20. Basic Education in short
• A nine-year comprehensive
curriculum for the whole
age group
• No degree; a final
certificate will be given for
completing the syllabus
• Teaching, text books and
other materials, school
transport and school
meals are free
• Provides the necessary
prerequisites for all upper
secondary education
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21. andreas schleicher
Head of the indicators and analysis division at OECD
In the best performing countries
• Decentralized decision making is combined with devices
to ensure a fair distribution of substantive educational
opportunities
• The provision of standards and curricula at national /
sub-national levels is combined with advanced
evaluation systems
• Process-oriented assessments and/or centralised final
examinations are complemented with individual reports
and feedback mechanisms on student learning process
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22. andreas schleicher
In the best performing countries
• Teacher training schemes are selective
• The training of pre-school personnel is closely
inegrated with the professional development of
teachers
• Continuing professional development is a constitutive
part of the system
• Special attention is paid to the professional
development of school management personnel
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23. andreas schleicher
In the best performing countries
• Students are offered a variety of extra curricular activities
• Schools offer differentiated support structures for students
• Institutional differentiation is introduced, if at all, at later stages
• Effective support systems are located at individual school level
or in specialised support institutions
• Schools and teachers have explicit strategies and approaches
for teaching heterogeneous groups of learners
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24. International evaluations
• PISA (Programme for International Students
Assessments); OECD
• PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of
Adult Competencies), OECD
The International Association for the Evaluation of
Educational Achievement)
• PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy
Study)
• TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and
Science Study
• European schoolnet evaluation
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25. Finnish Success – PISA
Since the launch of PISA Finland has scored
in the top five in all three components..
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26. PISA 2009; 65 countries
Young Finns were again among the best performers in the
assessment of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy
A slight fall, but still among OECD top
Variation in different aspects of reading
Girls have a huge lead over boys in reading
Interest in reading and mastery of strategies crucial
Variation between schools still minimal
A
Mathematical literacy the same, scientific literacy falling slightly 15.02.13
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27. The roots for the Finnish success in PISA can be
searched for in the history and rapid development of
the Finnish well-fare state as well as in the bold
education policy of the past forty years with its
emphasis on educational equality.
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28. Evaluation in Finnish education
• PISA scores are by-products, we do not teach to
PISA
• The important role of self-evaluation
• Student centered approaches and inclusion
• Accomodating special needs in evaluation
• Use of modern technology and eg. eportfolios, class
wikis and blogs
• Evaluation of teachers and schools - why ranking
has not been a real issue in Finland
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29. National evaluations
• National questionnairs
• Local questionnairs
• Principles questionnairs
• Healthcare questionnairs
• Finnish evaluation committee
• Universities
No school inspection.
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30. Why Finland succeeds?
• Education is highly valued in the society
• National (only!) core curricula
• Student support and wellfare
• School development is based on cooperation of
many authorities and parents
Tapio Erma 15.02.13
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31. Why Finland succeeds?
• Nationwide educational system
• Professional, excellent teachers
• Independancy of the schools
• Excellent free library-network in every city
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32. Autonomy
Decentralization
State guidance
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33. No inspection – so how does
the state guide ed?
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34. Curriculum
• The Finnish National Board of
Education prepares the national
core curriculum for basic education
and general upper secondary
education
 Municipalities compile
municipality-specific
curricula
 Individual schools
prepare their own
school curricula
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35. Curriculum
• The Government defines the minimum
number of lessons for core subjects
during basic education
– In grades 1–6, pupils usually receive
the same education, but schools
may focus on different subjects in
different ways due to the flexible time
allocation.
– In grades 7–9, more elective
subjects are included in the
curriculum.
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36. Decentralization of the
curriculum
Cal
Eng
Bel
G/NW
Centralized Decentr
Fin alized
Net
Swe
Por
Source: SLO 2005 15.02.13
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37. A three-level curriculum
1. National core curriculum
2. Local curriculum
3. School-level curriculum
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38. A three-level curriculum
1. National core curriculum
2. Local curriculum
city values, profiles,
language programme,
structures for support, Espoo
specific contents
3. School-level curriculum
optional courses, learning
units, methods, evaluation
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39. Competent teachers
• On all school levels, teachers are
highly qualified and committed.
• A master’s degree is required.
• Teacher education includes
teaching practice.
• The teaching profession is very
popular in Finland, and hence
universities can select the most
motivated and talented applicants.
• Teachers work independently and
enjoy full autonomy in the
classroom.
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40. Competent teachers
Instruction may be given by
• kindergarten teachers
o pre-primary education in separate pre-primary classes
• class teachers
o instruction for grades 1–6 in basic education, teaching all
subjects
o may also give pre-primary education
• subject teachers
o teach one or several subjects in basic education (primarily in
grades 7–9) and/or in general upper secondary education
• special needs teachers and special class teachers
o instruction for children in need of special needs education
• pupil counsellors and student counsellors
o educational guidance in basic education and in general
upper secondary education.
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41. Basic Education, € / student
16.1.2012
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42. Student associations -
participation
• Pupils vote for a representative from each grade into
the board of the school’s student association
• The board plans presentations and proposals
• Improves everyday life at school from the
perspective of pupils
• Develops the pupils’ possibilities to have an
influence
• Improves the communal sprit of the school
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43. Youth guarantee 2013
Society’s large-scale problems related to the
education, employment and participation of young
people.
Private-People Partnership approach based on which
young people themselves are active participants and
make decisions regarding their own future.
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44. President Niinistö on the social exclusion of
young people: We all have a responsibility in this
President Niinistö stressed that the contribution of
each and every adult is needed to prevent the social
exclusion of young
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45. Educational guarantee – a study place
for everyone finishing basic education
The educational guarantee secures every comprehensive school
graduate a place in a general upper secondary school or
vocational school, an apprenticeship, a workshop or vocational
rehabilitation place, or a place in some other form of study.
The guarantee sets out aims to provide all young people with
realistic opportunities to pursue and complete a post-basic
qualification and find employment. Simultaneously, attention is
paid to not leaving young people without a study place or work
for too long, as this increases their risk of social exclusion.
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46. Even just one everyday thing
Wellbeing of young people cannot be pursued by official action
and committee reports alone. The entire community around a
young person growing up has a huge impact: home, family,
neighbours, friends, daycare, school and hobbies.
All these are communities that help shape what a young person
becomes. We all have a responsibility in this
What we need are solutions that are simple enough and easy
enough to put into practice.
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47. The Finnish Education
Evaluation Council
• Serves as an expert body for educational evaluation in
connection with the Ministry of Education and Culture
• The operations of the Council are prepared and organized by
the Secretariat of the FEEC
• FEEC is a separate institute within the University of Jyväskylä
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48. Operation of the Education
Evaluation council
• The Council is appointed as an independent body by the Ministry
of Education and Culture and has 14 members maximum.
• The Council, together with the Ministry of Education and Culture,
is responsible for educational evaluation and its development in
the areas of basic education, upper secondary school education,
vocational education and vocational adult education as well as
independent civic education.
• Evaluation supports decision making by the Ministry of Education
and Culture, education providers and educational institutes
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49. Values of evaluation
• Evaluation supports the promotion of educational equality.
• Fairness means establishing an ethically sound basis for
evaluation and refraining from comparisons that could
damage the target.
• Truthfulness refers to ethically high-level responsibility,a
critical approach, and optimal reliability in evaluation
• Constructive evaluation.
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50. Priciples of evaluation
• Evaluation is independent.
• Evaluation involves active participation.
• Evaluation aims at quality.
• Evaluation is based on openness.
• Evaluation promotes development.
• Evaluation is efficient and economical.
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51. The aims of evaluation
• Evaluation seeks to acquire and analyze data
in order to provide a basis for national education
policy and local decision-making as well as for
educational development.
• In addition, it aims to support students’
learning, the work of educational personnel, and
the development of educational institutes.
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52. Evaluation methods
• The Council develops evaluation methods for the
needs of various users.
• National evaluations will make use of
self-evaluations both by education providers and
by educational institutes and also disseminate
successful practices.
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53. Utilisation of evaluation
information
• Evaluation information plays a central role in the
formation of education policy and in educational
development.
• The emphasis of the evaluation programme is on the
appropriateness, timeliness, and versatility of
evaluation.
• In evaluation activities a premium is placed on
customer-oriented reporting, development
recommendations and consultative support at the
customer’s request.
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54. Communication and
information
• The transparency and effectiveness of educational
evaluation will be promoted by the release of evaluation
results in the Council’s publication series.
• Education providers and educational institutes
concerned will always be notified of the evaluation results,
and schools will not be ranked.
• Evaluation publications are available also on the web.
Evaluation reports will include an abstract in English.
• The Council produce publications concerning evaluation
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55. Learner evaluation
• Self-evaluation
• Grades, and semester evaluation
• National tests on mathematics and finnish
language to define support needs
• Social and healthcare
No tests geared towards ranking
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56. Teacher evaluation
• Development discussions
• Peer feedback
• Self-evaluation
• Feedback from the parents
• Direct feedback from the learners
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57. Examples of Evaluations
• Basic educational security, special needs education,
remedial teaching and student welfare services in basic
education.
• The need for special education in upper secondary schools.
• From goals to interaction. Evaluation of pedagogy in Finnish
basic education.
• Evaluation of pedagogy in Finnish upper secondary
education
• The functionality of the Finnish pre-primary and basic
education curriculum system
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58. Educational outcomes and health of
children – process of segregation in the
Helsinki Metropolitan Area - MetrOP
• Focus: increasing differentiation in children’s educational outcomes
and health as components of a process of social and spatial
segregation in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA)
• Research team:
– Tampere University (School of Public Health and Medical School)
– National Institute for Health and Welfare
– University of Helsinki (Geography Department and Centre for
Educational Assessment)
• HMA: the commuting zone of Helsinki (1.2 million inhabitants, 14
municipalities)
• the city of Espoo one of the municipalities
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59. Educational outcomes and health of
children – process of segregation in the
Helsinki Metropolitan Area - MetrOP
• in 2012 all 7th graders (13 years old) were included in the survey: in
Espoo 29 schools participated
• some results of the study:
– girls succeeded somewhat better than boys in all areas of the
study
– clear connection between the parents’ educational background
and the educational outcomes of the children
– negative attitudes on learning have a slightly stronger connection
on educational outcomes than positive
– clear differences between schools were detected when the
educational outcomes and the pupils’ school marks at the 6th
grade were compared
– in terms of educational outcomes, Espoo was found to be above
the average and in terms of health, on the normal level
• the final
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60. Educational outcomes and health of
children – process of segregation in the
Helsinki Metropolitan Area - MetrOP
• in 2012 all 7th graders (13 years old) were included in the survey: in
Espoo 29 schools participated
• some results of the study:
– girls succeeded somewhat better than boys in all areas of the study
– clear connection between the parents’ educational background and
the educational outcomes of the children
– negative attitudes on learning have a slightly stronger connection on
educational outcomes than positive
– clear differences between schools were detected when the
educational outcomes and the pupils’ school marks at the 6th grade
were compared
– in terms of educational outcomes, Espoo was found to be above the
average and in terms of health, on the normal level
• the final report will be published in 2013
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61. Linkage between external and local
evaluation and external support to education
providers
• Education providers evaluate their own provision
of education and decide on their own evaluation models,
methods and indicators.
National evaluations make use of the evaluations carried out by
educational providers and educational institutes.
• To support local evaluation, efforts will be made to develop a
relevant expertise reserve, networked evaluation culture,
evaluationmodels, methods, criteria, measures, and indicators
as well as information networks.
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62. Networks and other co-
operation in evaluation
• The evaluation system will be developed and the
evaluations carried out through a network that is built on
partnership with experts from science and research,
educational administration, teaching, and various interest groups.
• Major partners in international co-operation include
evaluation organisations from different countries along with the
Nordic Council of Ministers, the CEDEFOP, the OECD, and
the EU. The Education Evaluation Council contributes actively
to the European evaluation policy and culture.
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64. • Every school is consequently expected to
provide an adequate learning environment for
every pupil and it is therefore a big challenge for
an individual school to build a full functioning
support system for a very heterogeneous group
of pupils. It will require a great deal of
development work if inclusion is to be
incorporated into Finnish schools.
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65. Autonomy
State Municipality Principal
Municipality School / Teacher
Principal
Learner
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66. Autonomy
• Administration
• Finances
• Grouping
• Recruiting
• Number of schools
• The evaluation system
• Profiled education
• Education in other languages
• In-house training
• Languages offered
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67. Evaluation in Espoo
• The self-evaluation of school activities in our school is systematic.
• The evaluation of school activities complies with ethical principles
(such as objectivity, confidentiality, ways that the evaluation and its
outcomes are used).
• The outcomes of the self-evaluation of our school are taken into
account in the plans for academic years.
• The information generated by evaluations leads to practical
improvements in our school.
• .
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68. Evaluation in Espoo
• Guardians are informed of the key evaluation data concerning
our school.
• The quality of pupil assessments in our school is consistent.
• Pupils are allowed to demonstrate their true potential through
diverse assessment methods.
• ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
• The implementation of the plan for the academic year is
evaluated regularly.
• The implementation of the curriculum is evaluated regularly.
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69. 15.02.13
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70. Tapio Erma 15.02.13
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71. SELF-EVALUATION OF SCHOOLS
IN THE CITY OF ESPOO
• Self-evaluation helps schools to pinpoint strengths and challenges
and develope key processes. School´s an evaluation plan guides
the evaluation process over a three-year period.
• Self-evaluation tools:
– Primary and secondary schools: Self-evaluation Questionnaire for
Basic Education in Espoo (based on National Quality Criterias for
Basic Education) and Manual
– Upper secondary schools: EfeCaf (EFQM)
• Subjects of evaluation: Productivity in education, Learning
environment, Student services, Management and leadership, Personnel
welfare, Studet welware
• Self-evaluation is based on the
collected key evaluation data.
• Schools analyse the results
by themselves and also write
the evaluation report and
development plans.
• Finnish Education Unit in
Espoo uses the collected
evaluation data as a part of it´s
development and planning.
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72. • Self- evaluation and audition have become
common as an apparatus of evaluation in
Finnish schools but they must be used
systematically and regularly to provide useful
information on the quality and content of the
basic processes and procedures in school.
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