Glossary of Education, third edition

Opetus- ja koulutussanasto, kolmas laitos
Undervisnings- och utbildningsordlista, tredje upplagan

© Ministry of Education and Culture, 2024
ISBN 978-952-263-751-2 (PDF, Ministry of Education and Culture)
ISSN 1799-0351 (PDF, Ministry of Education and Culture)

The glossary is available:
- in PDF format
- in the TEPA Term Bank
- in the Terminologies tool on the Interoperability Platform

Languages of the glossary:
- Terms: Finnish, Swedish, English
- Concept descriptions: Finnish

In April 2024, a new edition of the Glossary of Education appeared in the publication series of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The third edition of the Glossary is the most recent publication of the terminology work launched by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2010. The Glossary contains approximately 840 concepts related to the field of education. Each concept comprises a terminological description, and concept diagrams are used to illustrate the relations between different concepts. Recommendations are given on which Finnish terms to use, and some concepts include Swedish and English equivalents.

The purpose of the Glossary of Education is to help implement online services and data architecture and to facilitate communication between data producers, data users and information systems. The Glossary also creates bridges between legislation and data production and makes communication between people easier. It serves both the administrative branch of the Ministry of Education and Culture as well as other administrative branches.

The second edition of the Glossary was published in 2021. The third edition has been supplemented and updated with concepts related to the Act on Compulsory Education (1214/2020) and the terminology work on continuous learning launched in 2020. New concepts have also been included in the following areas: competence modules, types of support and authorisations in early childhood education and care, and learning analytics.

The Swedish and English terms in the Finnish National Agency for Education’s glossary and those in this Glossary have been harmonised, especially terms related to primary and lower secondary education as well as Swedish terms related to vocational education and training. This edition also includes updated Swedish and English terms related to early childhood education and care.