Equality and Fairness of School Grades in Finnish Basic Education

Research project studies the implementation of the evaluation reforms in the basic education curriculum in municipalities and schools and the functioning of the revised assessment principles. The project, funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, is a consortium project between the Finnish Institute for Educational Research and the Department of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Helsinki, and will be implemented in 2022-2023.

The assessment guidelines and assessment criteria for basic education were revised in 2020–2021. The new assessment criteria for grades 5, 7, 8 and 9 in all subjects came into force at the beginning of August 2021. The main purpose of the criteria reform is to ensure educational equity and equality among students.

The research project includes three strands: 1) the management and implementation of assessment reforms at municipal and school level, 2) the effectiveness of the assessment reform in teachers' work and teachers' perceptions of the reform, and 3) changes in final grades. The subjects covered by the project are mother tongue and literature, A-English, physics, history, and mathematics.