Schools, educational institutions and early children education and care

The Equality Act prohibits discrimination in educational institutions and based on gender, gender identity or gender expression.

In addition, education and training providers must ensure that educational institutions and early childhood care carry out goal-oriented and systematic work to promote gender equality. These institutions must also prevent discrimination on the grounds of gender identity or gender expression.

Promoting equality in education and training

Authorities, education providers and other communities offering education or training must make sure that girls and boys and women and men have equal opportunities to education and professional development and that teaching, research and learning material support the implementation of the purpose of this law. Equality is promoted in education and training with consideration to the children's age and development.

Tuition or teaching materials cannot be used to for example create or maintain prejudices or gender roles and divisions relating to stereotypical views on family and working life. 

Choices of education and careers which are based on traditional gender roles may uphold inequality in the labour market and limit the individual's freedom of choice. This is why choices related to studies should be based on individual factors, not gender.

Students must be encouraged to choose subjects according to their own interests, skills and advantages. Girls and women must have equal opportunities to be selected to study in a field that traditionally has been considered more suitable for boys and men, and correspondingly, boys and men must be offered equal opportunities to be selected to study in a field that traditionally has been considered more suitable for girls and women. Equality-sensitive study counselling and career guidance creates opportunities for this.

Promoting equality in early childhood education and care

The obligation to draw up a gender equality plan for promoting equality between the genders, provided for in the Act on Equality Between Women and Men (Equality Act), will be extended to early childhood education and care from 1 June 2023.

The gender equality plan is a tool for developing the operating culture of early childhood education and care units. It has a particular focus on the practices of the adults working in early childhood education and care. We need to make sure that gender equality is promoted in a systematic and target-oriented manner in the everyday work of early childhood education and care units. 

The obligation to draw up an operative gender equality plan applies to day care centres. Municipalities will draw up common gender equality and equality promotion plans for family day care and municipal open early childhood education and care in cooperation with the service providers in their area. The gender equality plan must be updated annually or at least every three years.

The National Board of Education has a website (in Finnish and in Swedish) for gender equality and equality promotion planning in early childhood education and care . The site is intended to support the work of early childhood education and care personnel and the preparation of gender equality and equality promotion plans. 

Authorities, education providers and other communities offering education or training must promote gender equality in a purposeful and planned manner in all their activities. It is the education or training provider's responsibility to make sure that all schools and educational institutions under its administration carry out purposeful and planned work to promote gender equality.