Text: Elina Jäntti

AI has rapidly become an integral part of society's functions and the same is happening in the education sector. How can we take advantage of AI in practice in teaching? And how do we use it responsibly, ethically and safely?

The AI recommendations of the Finnish National Agency for Education and the Ministry of Education and Culture offer answers to this question. 

The information package Artificial Intelligence in ECEC and education and training – legislation and recommendations published in March 2025 includes the key statutory obligations and general recommendations for ECEC and education and training providers and their personnel. Background material containing more information on AI and its utilisation has also been compiled and included in the recommendations.

“The aim is to open up the developing world of AI to education and training providers and explain what must be taken into account in the use of AI from the point of view of legislation and data protection, in particular,” says Counsellor of Education Juho Helminen from the Finnish National Agency for Education.

Information security and transparency must be remembered in assessment

A central question for an education professional is how to take advantage of AI in the assessment of learning and competence. The background material of the AI recommendations takes a stand on how AI can be applied to the central principles of assessment at different levels of education within the limits of the law, the national core curricula and the qualification requirements. 

“AI-supported assessment is very difficult to implement in compliance with the law and regulations. Of course, the aim is better learning, but if too much authority in relation to the teacher’s work is given to AI in areas such as assessment, the risks will be considerable,” Helminen says.

For example, there is the risk that students’ personal data and outputs that are subject to copyrights leak into the wrong hands. On the other hand, artificial intelligence can also be used entirely safely if matters such as students’ data protection and transparency in the use of AI have been ensured. The AI recommendations are also suitable for liberal adult education and the field of adult learning. 

According to Counsellor of Education Juho Helminen, there is also a great need for AI competence in liberal adult education. 

“Liberal adult education plays a very central role in providing education to citizens. Without AI competence in liberal adult education, the task will be impossible. All kinds of learners need AI competence, AI literacy and the skill of applying AI to learning and one’s own life.

The project turned uncertainty into enthusiasm

“In the changing operating environment, teachers of folk high schools also need to develop teaching and their pedagogical practices. This will also promote the digital and media literacy of students and their experience of self-efficacy,” says Development Manager Anni Henricson from the Finnish Folk High School Association. 

In the project AI supporting folk high school teachers coordinated by the Finnish Folk High School Association, the personnel of folk high schools are being trained to use AI. 

“The aim is to strengthen the digital competence of teachers in folk high schools and other liberal adult education and to support the use of AI in teaching and its planning,” Henricson explains.

Finnish folk high schools provide both general education and vocational education for young people and adults and offer long-term study programmes as well as short courses. The pedagogy of folk high schools has traditionally been based on contact instruction and attendance, but AI may transform it in many ways.

“AI can be very helpful in clarifying the teaching material for languages and multilingual teaching, leaving more time for the teacher to guide the students,” Henricson says.

In the courses provided as part of the project, teachers from folk high schools have learned the basics of AI, familiarised themselves with the key AI applications and practised using them. The courses also focus on multilingual instruction, teaching Finnish as a second language, instruction in the arts and student guidance. The courses contain a great deal of practical exercises and learning tasks related to the participants’ own fields of education The participants have also familiarised themselves with the recommendations and obligations issued by the Finnish National Agency for Education. The project has increased the participants’ interest in using AI.

“Teaching staff may have been afraid of AI and felt uncertain about it. However, having gained an understanding of AI and courage to use it, their enthusiasm has also increased. Many have noticed that it is also possible to have fun with AI and use it creatively. When the teaching staff improve their own skills and are empowered, the students can also experience the same,” Henricson says.

Using AI to identify prior learning and make it part of a qualification

AI can also be a useful tool in the identification of prior learning, and it may carry out mechanical work on behalf of the student and the teaching staff. This was discovered by the Youth Work Centre of Expertise Kentauri between 2020 and 2024, when the Centre took advantage of AI and created a tool called Osaamiskiekko (Digital Competence Disc).

In the Digital Competence Disc, AI was harnessed to assess what kind of studies in liberal adult education and education provided by organisations could be integrated into studies of universities of applied sciences and into specialist vocational qualifications.

“The Digital Competence Disc helps the individual to examine whether the course completed in an organisation could be part of education to complete a qualification, for example, a vocational qualification. In addition, we can use it to compare the content of courses provided in liberal adult education and organisations to qualifications and degrees provided by vocational institutions and universities of applied sciences,” says Project Manager Susanna Plathan from Sivis Study Centre.

The Digital Competence Disc made it possible to compare organisations’ courses in the eRequirements service, which contains the curricula of all universities of applied sciences, vocational qualifications and specialist vocational qualifications. Comparison was possible if the scope of the courses had been determined in credits. It was left to the educational institution to assess whether the organisation’s course would be applicable as part of the qualification.If all that work had to be done by people alone, without the help of AI, a similar comparison would be next to impossible because there are a huge number of courses at organisations and so many different qualifications.

“AI has been an enormous help in assessing such a large mass of data,” Plathan says. 

The Digital Competence Disc was a pilot, and it is no longer in use. However, according to Susanna Plathan, the pilot showed that AI can genuinely be utilised in liberal adult education and in education provided by organisations. 

“It will be interesting to see how AI can contribute to the identification and recognition of prior learning. We will keep up with the development.”