Finland’s School Vision 2045 - and a mother’s wish for equality

Last week Finland published its vision for schools in 2045. I read it not only as the founder of an education company, but as a mother.

Finland’s 2045 school vision keeps equality at its heart but adds a new promise: every student should have the agency to shape the future. (The official Vision 2045 document can be found here, and an English-language summary by Yle, the Finnish national broadcasting company here)

I absorbed the Vision 2045 between making dinner and having it. In our house, “shaping the future” often means shaping whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher.

Still, the vision is inspiring. It speaks about agency. About wellbeing. About students who do not only adapt to the future, but shape it.

In the past, equal education meant the same curriculum, the same information, the same facts pushed into young minds. In the future, equality may mean something else: are our schools giving every student equal opportunity to develop agency in the AI era?

Some children will ask AI for homework help. Others will ask how AI works. That difference matters.

Because agency in the AI era is not accidental. It is built on AI literacy - understanding how intelligent systems function, where their limits lie, and how they influence our choices. And here is the uncomfortable part: our students are not equally prepared if their teachers have not had equal opportunities to become AI literate themselves. Equality in the AI era requires support for educators first.

I see it even at home. Three children. Three personalities. One curious. One cautious. One already fluent. Three different relationships with technology. And three different school realities. One teacher sets assignments assuming students will use AI. Another strictly forbids it. The signals are mixed - and so are the opportunities to develop agency.

What do I want for my girls? Students today, but professionals in 2045.

I want them to have the confidence not just to use technology, but to question it. The skills to keep up with technological development and a changing world. The one relevant keyword from the Vision 2045 summarises it nicely: agency.

They do not need to become programmers (and this is much said by a mother who runs a Code School!) But I want them, all of my girls, and all Finnish students - in fact, all students everywhere - to understand the invisible systems that increasingly shape our choices, opportunities and voices.

Finland has always believed in equality. In 2045, for us, equality must include technological agency. That translates to equal opportunities for educators to become AI literate in 2026.

As a mother - and as someone running an education company - that feels like one of the most important conversations we need to have now, in 2026, not in 2045.

At Code School Finland, we work with schools to implement AI literacy curricula and provide teacher training that helps educators guide students from passive AI use to confident, critical creation.

Is that relevant to you now? Feel free to reach out.

Contact
Kaisu Pallaskallio, CEO
Tel./Whatsapp +358 44 355 7355
kaisu@codeschool.fi