In this paper, we examine the educational transition from general upper secondary education to higher education (HE) in the spring of 2020 when Finland entered to exceptional circumstances caused by COVID-19. The society closed for three months on 16 March as most of the Europe.  Graduates were preparing for their matriculation examination (the end exam of general upper secondary education), some of them continuing their preparation for higher education admissions. At the same time, the implementation of admission reform for higher education (HE admission reform) was completed in Finland. The reform and the situation caused by the coronavirus resulted in many new arrangements for HE admission in several fields.

Upper secondary education in Finland is divided into general secondary education, and vocational education and training (VET). General upper secondary education has traditionally been the predominant route to HE, but it has been possible to transit to HE also from VET. From 2020, universities started considering increasingly the final certificate from general upper secondary education (matriculation examination) as a result of HE admission reform, while universities of applied sciences started considering final certificates both from VET and the general upper secondary education (Government proposal 41/2018). Entrance examinations to universities are still available for students with poor academic success or VET degree.

The aim of a common primary education has been to ensure that equal opportunities for educational choices remain throughout the age group, and is considered as one of the cornerstones of the Nordic welfare state (Isopahkala-Bouret et al., 2018). In Finland, it is seen that educational politics is solving societal problems related to inequalities between sexes or socio-economical backgrounds by providing equal opportunities for educational paths (Tolonen & Aapola-Kari 2021). This has been a consensus unlike in Italy or United Kingdom, for example, where the education system is seen to maintain these inequalities (Romito 2018; Brooks & Adams 2018) In Europe, educational systems differ considerably in terms of educational transition, a step involving important choices affecting the future working life prospects (Tarabini & Jacovkis, 2021). Educational transitions from secondary education to HE are affected not only by the existing selection criteria. The focus should also be on the aims of upper secondary education, and how it differentiates and prepares students for the upcoming educational transitions (Inkinen & Haltia 2022). The transition from upper secondary education to HE is highly competitive in Finland as there are fewer education places in HE programs than there are applicants (Kosunen, 2018). More lean educational transition has been in the interest of recent education politics in Finland. According to OECD, the educational transition from secondary education to HE is slower than the OECD average: only a third of new university students have completed their secondary education the same year they started their studies. In the university of applied sciences, the corresponding number is less than a fifth (OECD 2017).

The HE admission reform is not only related to access to HE. It is also related to equality of education as it allows HE institutions to select the students for their degree programs. International and national research literature have repeatedly demonstrated that variation in applicants’ social background and gender are intertwined in the educational transition from secondary education to HE and may be involved in producing inequality (Nori 2011; Reay, Davies, David & Ball 2001). The exceptional circumstances created by the pandemic have amplified the impact of the background factors on education equality to the extreme (UN 2020). In this presentation, we ask how exceptional circumstances affected the construction of transition policies and students ’discourses on selection for HE.

The data consisted of open-ended narrative texts (N=65) written by applicants who applied to HE during spring 2020. The purpose of the data collection was to hear the voice of the applicants themselves. The assignment for the text was: “We would like to hear your story about preparing for entrance tests during last spring. You can write about your thoughts on the situation in a way that best suits you” given the informants freedom to express themselves freely. The data collection was carried out in a form of a survey between April and August 2020, utilizing various communication channels such as Twitter and Instagram. All of those who participated in the data collection applied to the university with a matriculation examination and 66 percent of them were graduating from general upper secondary education in the same spring. 89 percent of the respondents were women. Participants were from small rural municipalities and larger cities in Finland. We analyzed the data by means of critical discourse analysis where the purpose is to understand the relations between discourse and other social elements (Fairclough 2012). In this case between HE admission reform policy and the exceptional circumstances caused by COVID-19. The analytical process is ongoing.

According to our preliminary findings, the pandemia related circumstances created strongly divergent discourses about the choices. The discourses were formed around the exceptional circumstances and the HE admission reform. The importance of HE admission is constructed in relation to the matriculation examination: differences arise from how well applicants have been able to take into account the requirements for evidence selection in their degree. The effects of the pandemic were not exclusively negative, although the circumstances placed applicants in a highly unequal position. The positions were characterised by the opportunities offered to the applicants. The results are relevant when looking at how educational equality materialized in the exceptional circumstances. The trends at the time have continued since then.

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