Late last year, Finns Party MP Jaana Strandman put forward a proposal in Parliament calling for a change to the schedule of Finland's summer school break.
Co-sponsored by three other Finns Party MPs and two from the National Coalition Party, the initiative proposes that instead of the last week of May, the academic school year would only end in mid-June, on the last weekday of the week 24, with classes not reconvening until the end of August.
They say that the change would help boost the tourism industry and employment.
Teachers unenthusiastic
But there is no support for later school summer holidays, says Jaakko Salo, the head of education policy at the Trade Union of Education in Finland, OAJ.
"Of course there are individual opinions, that's clear. But the overall, the view is that there is no need for it," Salo told Yle.
He pointed out that the proposed change to the current system would be massive. It would have to be applied to the entire education system right up to the nation's universities.
"It won't work by just letting schools start and end a couple of weeks later. This initiative does not take into account the wide-ranging effects the delay would have," he said.
According to Salo, simply changing summer break times for elementary schools would not be possible.
The change would affect the application process for secondary schools and the timing of matriculation exams. If matriculation exams were delayed, the university admissions process and the start of the university academic year would also be postponed.
Salo added that he finds it frustrating that proposals such as this one are made without sufficient familiarity with the issue and previous relevant reports.
More important matters
According to a study by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, moving the summer holidays by two weeks would increase income for the tourism sector by around 220 million euros.
The OAJ's Salo does not consider the report, issued by the ministry in 2018, to be comprehensive in presenting the overall effects of the change. He views the report as being too narrowly focused on the impact on the tourism industry.
According to him, if the change is to be pushed through, an extensive investigation into its effects must first be carried out.
Right now, he sees a bigger need to direct change in education toward righting issues such as classroom learning support.
"In my opinion, time, energy and resources should now be allocated to fixing these and not to massive structural reforms, which have no direct connection to better learning and competence," he stated.
Major social impact
Finland's Basic Education Act stipulates 190 working days for the academic year, and specifies that the academic year ends on the last weekday of the 22nd week of the calendar year.
Laura Francke, a lawyer and educational advisor at the National Agency for Education, points out that the proposed change is not included in the programme of the current coalition government.
She sees moving the holidays as having little effect on the content of the teaching, while having a major social impact.
"It would affect the holidays of children and families and thus the holidays of workers in many sectors," she noted.
Francke also believes that the change would go through the entire education sector, and so its effects should be carefully considered.
On the other hand, she sees that bringing Finland's school holiday period into line with general European dates could provide new opportunities for cooperation in international exchange activities.
"In the end, this is a matter of political will, whether we want to do something like this. Up to now, it's just happened that no changes have been made," Francke pointed out.
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