New national core curricula for basic and upper secondary education

Policy Response DateJuly 18, 2010 Country: Finland General Type: Discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-migrant/xenophobia, Anti-semitism, Islamophobia, Afrophobia, Arabophobia, Anti-roma/zinghanophobia, Religious intolerance, Inter-ethnic, Intra-ethnic, Nationalism, Homophobia, On grounds of disability, On grounds of other belief
Groups affected / Interested in: Majority Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Education

The Finnish National Board of Education (opetushallitus / utbildingsstyrelsen) issued a decree supplementing the national core curricula for basic and general upper secondary education on 18 June 2010. Lessons on ethics and good life for grades 6-9 now include education about  human rights crimes such as the holocaust. A new thematic area, human rights issues, is added to the curriculum for grades 7-9. Themes explored include human rights crimes such as holocaust and mass destruction, as well as ethnic persecution and the work of the United Nations. In addition, human rights conventions such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights are studied. The decree is effective from August 2010.