Education and early childhood education and care

Every child, pupil and student has the right to a safe and equal learning and growth environment. The Non-Discrimination Act obliges every education provider and educational institution maintained by it, as well as every early childhood education and care organiser and service provider to promote equality and make reasonable accommodations required by pupils or students with disabilities. Nevertheless, the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman receives complaints about cases in education and early childhood education and care in which a child, pupil or student was unjustifiably placed in an inferior position compared to others due to a personal characteristic, such as a disability, belief or ethnic origin.

Promoting equality in educational institutions and early childhood education and care

The Non-Discrimination Act obliges education providers and the educational institutions maintained by them to promote equality in their operations and to draw up an equality promotion plan.

The Non-Discrimination Act was amended on 1 June 2023. The amendment extended the obligation to promote equality and draw up an equality promotion plan to early childhood education and care organisers and service providers. An early childhood education and care organiser and service provider must ensure that the early childhood education and care facility has a plan for the measures required to promote equality. The transition period for drawing up equality plans is two years.

The Non-Discrimination Act imposes two kinds of obligations on education providers and early childhood education and care organisers.

• Firstly, the prohibition of discrimination also applies to education and early childhood education and care. In education and early childhood education and care, it must be ensured that the activities of the educational institution or education providers are not discriminatory in any way. This requires that the education and early childhood education and care practices are reviewed from the points of view of different kinds of children, pupils and students to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to grow, learn and demonstrate what they have learned.
• Secondly, education providers and early childhood education and care providers are obliged to promote the realisation of equality. This requires an assessment of the equality situation, systematic measures to correct the problems discovered, and monitoring the effects of the measures.

An education provider or early childhood education and care organiser must have a valid equality promotion plan. The equality promotion planning obligation is unit-specific, meaning that every educational institution and early childhood education and care unit must have an equality promotion plan in place. The plan must be based on an assessment of the realisation of equality, and students, pupils and children as well as their custodians must be heard when the plan is being drawn up. The plan’s measures for promoting equality must be effective, expedient and proportionate, taking into account the operating environment, resources and other circumstances. The effects of the plan’s measures must be monitored.

The act does not directly specify time limits for updating the plans, but in order to ensure that the plan matches the operating environment of the early childhood education and care unit or educational institution, the update interval of the plan should be no longer than three years.

The learning and growth environment must be safe and equal

A safe learning and growth environment is free of harassment. The Non-discrimination Act prohibits the creation of an environment that violates or threatens human dignity based on origin, disability, sexual orientation or other prohibited grounds for discrimination. Harassment may involve, for instance name-calling and other bullying. Displaying threatening, offensive or hateful symbols or images may also constitute harassment.

An education provider or early childhood education and care organiser or service provider must take available measures to eliminate harassment. An education provider or early childhood education and care organiser is guilty of harassment if it neglects its duty to take measures to eliminate harassment of a child, pupil or student that it is aware of.

If a member of the staff of an educational institution or early childhood education and care unit is guilty of harassment, the education provider or early childhood education and care organiser may be liable to compensate for the discriminatory activity. Education providers and early childhood education and care organisers also have an obligation to intervene in the discriminatory activities of other pupils and children or, for example, the custodians of pupils. An provider or early childhood education and care organiser or service provider may also be liable for compensation if it has neglected its duty to take available measures to eliminate harassment of a pupil or child.

The practices and premises related to education and early childhood education and care must be constructed so that no one is placed in an inferior position due to their beliefs or state of health, among other things. For example, ethics lessons may have to take place in a school other than the pupil’s own local school. In that case, it must be ensured by planning the transport and the timetable that all pupils are in an equal position regardless of their religion or conviction.

The education provider or early childhood education and care organiser and service provider is obliged to make reasonable accommodations that ensure that people with disabilities have an equal growth environment and opportunity to receive an education. The premises of early childhood education and care units and educational institutions must be accessible, but individual arrangements required by the learning and studies of people with disabilities must also be made. This includes special exam arrangements at higher education institutions, among other things.

If you experience discrimination in education or early childhood education and care

All pupils, students and children have the right to a safe and equal growth and learning environment. The education provider or educational institution in question should be contacted in case of discrimination in education. Student unions may also provide support in case of discrimination. You can contact the early childhood education and care organiser or service provider or the early childhood education and care unit about discrimination in early childhood education and care. The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman can be consulted for advice in resolving discrimination situations, and the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman can also help victims of discrimination.