World Bank2014-03-312014-03-312012-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/17510The two most important factors explaining the success of the Finnish education system are: education has been a national priority for decades, and the system operates on trust. The Ministry of education is in charge of education policy and overall central funding. The Finnish national board of education, as the operational arm of the Ministry of education, is responsible for overall education provision and educational development, including the curriculum. Budgetary autonomy is established; budget is controlled by the local governments with input from principals. Personnel management is established. Teacher salaries are relatively fixed by civil service rules and municipalities choose their teachers under very stringent criteria. Participation of school councils in school governance is advanced. Parents trust school decisions because the system works very well. School and student assessment is advanced. Standardized student assessment is sample-based but schools evaluate their students continually. School autonomy and accountability are key components to ensure education quality. The transfer of core managerial responsibilities to schools promotes local accountability, helps reflect local priorities, values, and needs, and gives teachers the opportunity to establish a personal commitment to students and their parents. There are five indicators of school autonomy and accountability that can help benchmark an education system's policies that enable school autonomy and accountability: school autonomy in budget planning and approval; school autonomy in personnel management; the participation of the school council in school finance; the assessment of school and student performance; and school accountability to stakeholders. This report focuses specifically on policies in the area of school autonomy and accountability.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO INFORMATIONADULT EDUCATIONAIDBASIC EDUCATIONBOARD OF EDUCATIONBOARDS OF EDUCATIONCIVIL SERVICECLASSROOMCURRICULUMEDUCATION DATAEDUCATION DECENTRALIZATIONEDUCATION INDICATORSEDUCATION INSTITUTIONSEDUCATION POLICIESEDUCATION POLICYEDUCATION QUALITYEDUCATION SECTOREDUCATION SYSTEMEDUCATION SYSTEMSEDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENTSEDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTEDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCEEXPENDITURESFEMALE TEACHERSFINANCIAL AUDITSGRADUATE STUDIESHUMAN DEVELOPMENTLEADERSHIPLEARNING OUTCOMESLEVEL OF EDUCATIONLIBERAL ARTSLIBERAL ARTS EDUCATIONMANUALSMATRICULATION EXAMINATIONMINISTRY OF EDUCATIONMUNICIPAL SCHOOLNATIONAL EDUCATIONNET ENROLLMENTNET ENROLLMENT RATEPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRIMARY LOWER SECONDARYPRIMARY SCHOOLSPRIVATE SCHOOLPRIVATE SCHOOLSPUBLIC EXPENDITUREPUBLIC EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATIONPUBLIC SCHOOLSQUALITY OF EDUCATIONREPEATERSRURAL AREASSCHOOL AUTONOMYSCHOOL BOARDSSCHOOL BUDGETSSCHOOL COUNCILSCHOOL COUNCILSSCHOOL DIRECTORSSCHOOL EDUCATIONSCHOOL FINANCESCHOOL GOVERNANCESCHOOL LEVELSCHOOL MANAGEMENTSCHOOL OPERATIONSSCHOOL OWNERSSCHOOL PERFORMANCESCHOOL PERSONNELSCHOOL PRINCIPALSSCHOOL STAFFSCHOOL SYSTEMSCHOOL YEARSCHOOLSSCHOOLS WITH STUDENTSSECONDARY EDUCATIONSECONDARY SCHOOLSECONDARY SCHOOLSSOCIAL MOBILITYSTAFF SALARIESSTUDENT ALLOCATIONSSTUDENT ASSESSMENTSTUDENT ASSESSMENTSSTUDENT COSTSSTUDENT EVALUATIONSTUDENT LEARNINGSTUDENT LEAVESSTUDENT PERFORMANCETEACHERTEACHER MOTIVATIONTEACHER SALARIESTEACHER SELECTIONTEACHER TENURETEACHER TRAININGTEACHERSTEACHINGTEACHING FORCETEACHING METHODTEACHING STAFFTERTIARY EDUCATIONUNIVERSITIESVOCATIONAL EDUCATIONVOCATIONAL SCHOOLSYOUTH10.1596/17510