The learning support reform: what it means for teaching materials

Learning support is being reformed along Finland’s whole education path. In pre-primary, basic and general upper secondary education the reform entered into force on 1 August 2025, and in vocational education it enters into force on 1 August 2026 (Finnish National Agency for Education, in Finnish). The direction is the same at every level: support should come early and, as far as possible, within the student’s own teaching group, and the continuum of support from pre-primary to upper secondary becomes more consistent.

From the materials’ point of view, the core of the reform is simple. As a growing share of support is given in ordinary teaching, that support rests on materials that bend to learners at different levels. This guide covers what the reform asks of the teacher and how to prepare your materials for its everyday reality.

What changes in the reform

In basic education, the emphasis of support shifts to early and preventive support, given primarily within the student’s own teaching group (Finnish National Agency for Education, in Finnish). OAJ’s experts have described the change as updating the perspective from individual-centered to group-based: teaching arrangements that support the conditions for learning are the core of every teacher’s work, not a separate island of special education (OAJ 2024, in Finnish). The rollout has staged transition periods, so practices take shape school by school (Finnish National Agency for Education, in Finnish).

In vocational education, the reform strengthens the student’s right to receive support as soon as the need appears, without heavy administrative decisions. It enters into force on 1 August 2026, the same day as the renewed common units (YTO) of vocational qualifications. Two reforms landing on the same day are best handled as one piece of work: as you update materials to the new qualification requirements, build the support in at the same time. There is a separate guide on that update: the curriculum reform in vocational education.

Support happens in the materials

Support given within the student’s own group shows up in everyday exercises and texts: the same topic as a lighter version, vocabulary opened up, intermediate steps visible, and an advanced version for those who move fast. That is differentiation, and there is a light method for it: one good exercise, from which a supported and an advanced version are derived. The method is described in the differentiation guide, and AI lightens its workload substantially.

The reform did not bring teachers more planning time. That is why support is best built into materials when you are preparing or updating them anyway, not as a separate project afterwards.

How to prepare your materials

First go through the coming months’ units and identify the spots where the need for support has recurred in your group: texts whose vocabulary has run away from some students, exercises missing intermediate steps, and topics where the furthest-along students have been left without a challenge.

Make level versions for those spots before the unit starts. Three levels of one topic in a single preparation session is a realistic goal when the base is your own working material. Share the finished sets with colleagues too: the same support needs recur in parallel groups, and a shared material bank saves the whole subject team’s time.

How Bruukki helps

Bruukki makes a supported and an advanced version of the same material, so the support comes out of the same preparation session as the material itself. You can bring in your old Word or PDF materials as a base, and the selected curriculum keeps the versions anchored to the same goals. AI suggests, you decide who gets what. Students’ personal data or support needs are not entered into the service.

Bruukki is a Finnish service: teachers’ and materials’ data is stored in the EU, and Bruukki does not use your content to train language models. Schools get the data-protection documentation ready-made from us.

Where to start

Pick the first unit of the autumn and make three levels of its most central exercise set before the unit starts. When the reform’s everyday reality begins, you already have a model to repeat.

If you want to try how your own material bends to different levels, try Bruukki for free. We are glad to receive teachers’ feedback, so tell us if something does not work.

Sources

• Finnish National Agency for Education. Oppimisen tuen uudistus. (in Finnish)
• Finnish National Agency for Education. Oppimisen tuen uudistus perusopetuksessa. (in Finnish)
• Finnish National Agency for Education. Siirtymäajat oppimisen tuen uudistuksessa. (in Finnish)
• OAJ (2024). Perusopetuksen oppimisen tuki uudistuu: mitä se tarkoittaa koulujen arjessa? (in Finnish)

Read also: differentiation with AI and the curriculum reform in vocational education.