Health and well-being promoting work in schools has developed positively
Promoting health and well-being in the school environment is a significant aspect of the operational culture that supports learning. In 2025, positive development was observed in schools’ work to promote health and well-being compared to the two previous data collections. The data are based on a datacollection sent every other year to comprehensive schools in mainland Finland.
Participation of pupils and guardians has strengthened
Pupils’ and guardians’ participation in planning, organizing, and evaluating school activities increased over the past four years (Figure). Following the reform of the Basic Education Act (245/2025), the ban on the use of mobile devices during lessons, which entered into force on 1 August 2025, required education providers to update their school rules. This may have increased the involvement of pupils and guardians in drafting and reviewing these rules. School regulations have also restricted the use of mobile devices outside lesson time, especially in schools with grades 1–6. Measures promoting more physical activity during the school day were in use in an increasing number of schools in the 2024–2025 school year.
| Academic year | 2024–2025 | 2022–2023 | 2020–2021 | 2018–2019 | 2016–2017 | 2014–2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Updating and/or reviewing school rules and regulations | 86 | 60 | 54 | 61 | 74 | 60 |
| Planning, implementation, and evaluation of school meal arrangements | 77 | 73 | 67 | 74 | 69 | 67 |
| Practices for preventing and addressing bullying, violence and harassment | 75 | 74 | 72 | 75 | 77 | 72 |
| Evaluation of school operations | 72 | 70 | 71 | 76 | 73 | 65 |
| Processing of survey or other summary data concerning pupils well-being | 66 | 60 | 55 | 51 | 42 | 35 |
The organisation of school meals needs improvement
There is still room for development in schools’ efforts to promote health and well-being. The use of Move! results could be improved, and there is a need to develop the organisation of school meals.
Common practices and guidelines supporting health and well-being have become somewhat more widespread, but differences remain between schools.
About the data in more detail
- Read the whole statistic report (Julkari) (in Finnish)
- Statistic in TEAviisari
- Indicator data in Sotkanet
Background information
- Quality raport (The quality report in English will be completed in May)
- Data resources catalogue
- Instructions for submitting data
- Previous statistics (2023) (Julkari) (in Finnish)
Source
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Hyvinvoinnin ja terveyden edistäminen peruskouluissa -TEA 2025. Tilastoraportti 10/2026 (Julkari) (in Finnish)
Description of the statistics
The Promoting Helath and Well-being in Schools dataset describes activities in comprehensive schools aimed at promoting health, well-being and a sense of community. The data collected provides an evidence base for evaluating and developing these activities and offer comparable information that allows individual schools to benchmark themselves against other schools. At the national level, the datacollection supports the assessment and development of both the national core curriculum and the implementation of student welfare. The data collection also examines the implementation of the Pupil and Student Welfare Act (1287/2013). Some of the information also forms part of the database for the health and wellbeing promotion supplement (HYTE coefficient), which influences municipal state funding.
The statistics present monitoring data from 2009 onwards.
Uppdate schedule
The data is published every two years, in even-numbered years.
Statistics publication calendar
Contact details
Project Manager
tel +358 29 524 7705
[email protected]