Starting next year, government plans to cut nearly 15 million euros from the funding for continuous professional development for teachers. This is part of a cost-cutting effort by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
This funding has been used annually to train tens of thousands of teachers across various educational levels.
Tampere-based daily Aamulehti reported that an outraged Trade Union of Education (OAJ) is demanding a reversal of the decision.
"We are shocked by this. It's a really tough decision. It will affect teachers at almost all educational levels," said Jaakko Salo, manager of Education Policy at OAJ.
He warned that without this funding, professional training for teachers in schools would essentially come to an end.
The government has defended the cuts by saying municipalities and educational providers should fund the training. However, the policy manager doubts financially strained municipalities will take on this responsibility and that the move will result in teachers not receiving additional professional training.
Salo referenced a recent study by Jyväskylä University and the Ministry of Education, which found that more than 60 percent of students from immigrant backgrounds lack adequate reading skills.
He noted that professional training for teachers has been organised, for instance, to support language learning in situations where non-native-speaking students transition from preparatory education to regular school.
Jarkko Niiranen, director of education, training and competence at the National Agency for Education, voiced concern that the cuts would negatively affect student learning outcomes, as teachers who develop and update their skills play a critical role in student performance.
"Finland has an excellent teacher education system, which has been our strength. But we also need to systematically ensure that teachers receive continuous professional development throughout their careers," Niiranen said.
Electricity price hikes again
Wild fluctuations in electricity prices continue despite the restart of the Olkiluoto (OL2) nuclear power plant over the weekend. On Monday, spot prices rose in the early morning and were set to peak in the evening, according to a report from business daily Kauppalehti.
The spot prices for electricity were low on Sunday but began climbing around 5 am on Monday, reaching over 27 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) by 9 am. After a dip to about 13 cents, prices will rise again, peaking at more than 31 cents per kWh by 7 pm.
Over the weekend, spot prices spiked to nearly 40 cents on Saturday evening. The highest price in September was over 59 cents per kWh. The fluctuations were linked to maintenance on OL2, which was out of service for nearly a month due to a generator rotor failure. The unit resumed electricity production on Sunday.
Check your winter tyres
Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat urged readers to inspect their winter tyres before December, when many currently permitted winter tyres will become illegal.
Starting on 1 December, the Finnish Road Safety Council will no longer allow winter tyres that have only the M+S or M&S (mud and snow) markings without an accompanying snowflake symbol on Finnish roads.
Although the sale of M&S-only tyres ended in 2019, they are still widely used.
The three-peak mountain snowflake symbol (3PMSF) indicates that the tyres have been tested and meet minimum snow grip requirements, according to Reetta Kinisjärvi, a senior inspector at Traficom.
Using winter tyres without the 3PMSF symbol may result in fines and could cause vehicles to fail annual vehicle inspections.
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