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In the Finnish national core curriculum, societal skills and active citizenship are reinforced as part of transversal competences (the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that permeate the objectives of all subjects).  

Active citizenship is an integral part of a school’s values, practices and procedures – or in a word, culture; how the school operates on a daily basis and how both adults and pupils participate in building it. 

The school culture should be constructed in a way that supports pupil involvement and participation (e.g. mandatory school councils). Schools are part of a society, so they are encouraged to cooperate with organisations, companies and other local actors.  

Pupils practise different ways of influencing and participating in society, e.g. youth elections organised in schools. Nevertheless, when surveyed, many teachers see active citizenship and democracy education as the sole responsibility of social studies teachers. Perhaps many find it difficult to identify school culture and daily activities as ways to teach active citizenship.  

Citizenship is at the core of Finnish education 

The task of schools is to educate children and young people to become active members of a democratic society. Defining common values is often challenging, and in a pluralistic society it is necessary to accept a variety of ways of thinking. The national core curricula for Finnish primary, lower secondary and general upper secondary education define the core values for education, which draw on promoting democracy, human rights, equality and non-discrimination.  

European identity and understanding European values have also been fundaments on which Finnish education has been built for the past three decades. In history lessons, the history of Finland is linked to a European narrative. In social studies, pupils learn about the values of the European Union, the responsibilities of its institutions and the Union as an international actor. 

The aim is to educate pupils to become citizens who have the skills and desire to work for commonly accepted European valuesat national and international level. 

Raising awareness is working 

Voter turnout in European Parliament elections has increased in the last two elections, but still only about half of EU citizens exercise their right to vote in these joint European elections. 

According to a Eurobarometer survey published in autumn 2024, 75 % of Finns consider EU membership to be a positive thing, although there is a small decline from previous years. For Finns, the most important aspects of EU membership are cooperation with other countries and, in particular, the Union's role in defending security and peace.  

The role of schools is to provide pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to be able and willing to participate in a democratic society. These objectives may be motivated by a social ethos that suggests the experience of participation should lead to a desire to defend shared values. 

For example:  

• Finns are one of the most willing populations in Europe to defend their country.
• In Finland, the objectives of social studies lessons also include content related to comprehensive security and national defence.
• Finland has universal conscription for men, so young people have a concrete need for diverse information on national defence and security policy.  

In recent years, however, the debate on security has permeated almost all areas of society, including education. It is therefore important to remember that in the national core curricula, active citizenship is not linked to patriotism or nationalism, but to functioning in a democratic society in general. 

At the same time, young Finnish people's trust in the European Union has grown over the last 30 years – with half trusting the Union to some extent and a quarter trusting it a lot. In general, their trust in institutions and the media is quite high. It can therefore be said that teaching active citizenship and democratic values has been successful (to some extent). 

The primary goal of social studies and education in general is to support critical thinking among children and young people, which includes questioning social structures and challenging political discourse. 

Hearing from young people themselves 

Participation and social engagement do not always necessarily take place on the terms of educators and adults. It would be good to consider how to discuss the means of political and social resistance and changewith young people and their consequences for society and young people's own lives. 

Active citizenship does not always necessarily mean acting within the framework of the system − social change may also require action outside the system, which is not always generally accepted or appropriate. Education should therefore also encourage young people to reach beyond the familiar and conventional. 

The global climate crisis and human rights violations may not be solved by traditional and commonly agreed means, just as many equality issues in previous decades were not.  

Society’s strength is in its connections 

There is much discussion in the field of education and training about strengthening societal resilience. It is offered as a solution to increased mental health problems, hybrid threats and a world where increasing disinformation blurs the boundaries between truth and falsehood.  

However, strengthening the resilience of children and young people cannot alone be the answer to surviving in an uncertain and rapidly changing world. We need to discuss shared values and how to strengthen social participation so that, instead of merely accepting the status quo, young people learn to see and create new worlds. 

Values such asrespect for human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of lawprovide a good framework for building the future. It is a privilege to share a European identity based on these values with almost half a billion people when the number of citizens living in democracies is declining year by year.