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While VET schools have nurses, social workers, and career guidance offices, the general attitude is that if you don’t pass an assessment, you find another way to prepare, and failure is yours to own, not the school’s. That is not to say that teachers aren’t sympathetic to students. The teachers I met appeared to like and respect their students and were proud of their accomplishments. But they spoke of them as young professionals; in other words, the VET colleges, as they are called, seem better adapted to older students than to 9th graders who still need guidance as they move to VET with its different demands.

And then there’s the relaxed culture I found among young people in Finland. Students in their mid-20s were at ease answering my questions about what they had done between school and VET—played in a band, cooked in Chicago, went around the world taking landscaping jobs, made hats in Finland. And while just an anecdote, here’s an interesting contrast: A 19-year-old student whom I asked about plans said she had no idea what she wanted to do. She was “just in school.” The older students all had distinct goals. The gist was that they had learned on their own, but now wanted to strengthen their expertise and earn a national qualification with currency in the labor market.

Finally, one could attribute the attitude toward entering the labor market in part to the social supports available for student living expenses and for such necessities as health care and housing. But poverty is growing in Finland, and government officials are concerned. There are signs that the government is now gearing up to give the transition from post-compulsory education to the labor market a level of attention similar to what it has given compulsory school.

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