A survey by Finland's teachers' trade union, the OAJ, found the vast majority of teachers (78%) are against the idea of schools starting the summer break a couple of weeks later than is the case currently.
Schools in Finland generally begin summer vacation at the beginning of June. However, there is growing interest in bringing the timing of the holidays more in line with other European countries.
The OAJ sent the survey to all of its members and received 17,557 responses.
In a press release, the teachers' union said moving the holidays forward would be a major change for the entire education system, adding that doing so would negatively impact work performance and pupils' studies.
However, another recent survey — commissioned by the Finnish Hospitality Association (MaRa) and the Service Sector Union PAM — found major support for starting and ending summer breaks later on.
Majority OK with later vacations
According to the jointly-commissioned MaRa and PAM survey, up to 57 percent of people in Finland said they supported the idea of school vacations starting around Midsummer in mid-June and ending at the end of August.
"Finland's school summer holidays are scheduled differently than in other European countries. Elsewhere, August is the main holiday month. In practice, family holidays in Finland end when schools start at the beginning of August. Postponing the school summer holidays has strong public support," MaRa's CEO Timo Lappi said in a press release on Tuesday.
OAJ's chair, Katarina Murto questioned whether the tourism sector would actually be helped by a summer break postponement.
"I consider the goal of increasing Finland's attractiveness as a tourist destination to be supportable. But how would annual turnovers of the tourism industry increase by moving school children's summer holidays to a later date if the number of holidays of parents does not increase? After all, parents' summer holidays do not automatically move to August," Murto said.
Tourism, hospitality industry
Meanwhile, PAM's chair Annika Rönni-Sällinen noted that Finland's reputation as an alternative destination for European tourists has improved in recent years.
"It would be sensible to meet the [foreign tourist] demand, but many companies need to scale back their operations in late summer due to a lack of domestic customers and, in some cases, a lack of workforce, when our own summer holiday season falls at a different time than the rest of Europe," Rönni-Sällinen said in MaRa's press release.
MaRa's and PAM's survey was carried out by polling firm Taloustutkimus. It queried 1,009 people in Finland by telephone.
The two groups also cited a business survey conducted by the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, which found 75 percent of tourism and hospitality companies in favour of postponing summer breaks, and 13 percent opposing such a change.
"Moving the summer holidays to correspond to European holiday periods has long been a dream of tourism and restaurant companies in Finland. The study confirms our view that moving the holidays would have a very positive impact on the demand for tourism and restaurant services, especially in August," MaRa's Lappi said in the release.