Study title

Finnish Local Government 2004: Educational Institutions 2002: Primary Schools and Lower Secondary Schools

Dataset ID Number

FSD2159

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2159

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• University of Vaasa. Department of Public Management

Abstract

Similar surveys were also carried out in 1995 and 1998. In the 2002 survey, primary schools and lower secondary schools received a questionnaire that was different from the one sent to post-lower secondary schools and institutions, unlike in the two earlier surveys. This survey deals mainly with three topics: the contents of primary and lower secondary education services, and the municipal administration and development policies of educational institutions.

First, the respondents were asked questions about the administrator of the school, the number of teaching groups, whether the school organises preschool education for 6-year-olds, and whether the school provides specialised teaching (e.g. music-oriented or language-oriented teaching). The respondents estimated their satisfaction with different supplementary and support services organised by their schools, including student lunch, cleaning, and maintaining the school library. In addition, they were asked how the provision of those services was organised in the institution. Changes in the educational activities (e.g. size of teaching groups, remedial teaching, independence of the school) since 1998 were queried, as well as their state at the time of the survey.

In relation to management and decision-making, the respondents were asked which elected body was mainly in charge of the central issues connected to their school. They also assessed the significance of that elected body in various matters (e.g. the acquisition of resources). Views on which elected body was in charge of different issues related to schools, such as deciding on the distribution of work, the selection of personnel, the expulsion of students, and allocating funds within the institution. Some questions pertained to the effect that various bodies (e.g. the EU, local government, teachers) have on the activity of the school. The respondents were also presented with a set of attitudinal statements covering the importance of various roles in their work as well as changes in their importance over the past few years. Views on future development goals were also probed.

Background variables included the respondent's year of birth, title, work experience in the field, and level of education. In addition, the data include external background variables.

Keywords

decision making; educational administrators; educational guidance; educational institutions; educational reform; educational resources; local education authorities; primary schools; schools; teaching

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Government, political systems and organisations (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Educational policy (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish Local Government 2004

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• University of Vaasa. Faculty of Social Sciences

Data Producers

• Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities

Time Period Covered

2002

Collection Dates

spring 2002 ( 2002 )

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Political-administrative area (Municipality)

Universe

Finnish municipalities (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Multistage

Two-stage stratified sampling in selecting project municipalities.

The project municipalities were selected separately from those with less than 10,000 inhabitants (28 municipalities) and from those with more than 10,000 inhabitants (19 municipalities). The selection aimed to be representative within both groups in relation to all municipalities with the same population size. Large municipalities were over-represented because 70% of the Finnish population lives in large municipalities. Representativeness criteria included regional location, age and education of the population, industry structure, municipal economy parameters, political situation and variables related to municipal policy. The selected municipalities form a small scale model of all Finnish municipalities. The Åland Islands municipalities were excluded because of special features resulting from Åland's autonomy.

The questionnaire was sent to all primary and lower secondary schools in the project municipalities (N=583). 463 schools responded. The respondents were persons in charge of the schools.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

79.4

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD2157 Finnish Local Government 2004: Educational Institutions 1995

FSD2158 Finnish Local Government 2004: Educational Institutions 1998

FSD2160 Finnish Local Government 2004: Educational Institutions 2002: Vocational Schools, Upper Secondary Schools and Adult Education

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The variables and their order was not completely identical between the original data deposited at the archive and the questionnaire. The variables have been ordered according to the questionnaire available.

Variable q4_1 and variables connected to question 9 are not included in the data. Variables q2, q10b1 and q23_1 have been removed from the data. Labels for variable q20a have been retained as they were in the original data.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

University of Vaasa: Finnish Local Government 2004: Educational Institutions 2002: Primary Schools and Lower Secondary Schools [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-20). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2159

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Hietaniemi-Virtanen, Niina (2004). Kehittyvä koulutoimi: Tutkimus kuntien koulutuspalveluista 1995-2002. Helsinki : Suomen Kuntaliitto. KuntaSuomi 2004 -tutkimuksia nro 49. Acta nro 168.

Related Publications

Hietaniemi-Virtanen, Niina (2004). Kehittyvä koulutoimi: Tutkimus kuntien koulutuspalveluista 1995-2002. Helsinki: Suomen Kuntaliitto. KuntaSuomi 2004 -tutkimuksia nro 49. Acta; 168.