There is currently ongoing the reform of the national core curriculum in Finland. The new curriculum will come into effect in 2016. Among others the attention heretofore has been taken notice in literacy instruction. Although Finnish youth has succeeded in PISA reading literacy assessment time and again (Finnish students again 2010; Välijärvi  et al. 2002, 2007), there are signals, which show that some renewings relative to literacy instruction are current.

The regional gaps in performance of reading literacy have expanded in Finland. Also genre differencies are still high. At the same time the national tests show that performance of writing literacy is not enough for learning purposes. After the primary school a part of boys are unskilled in writing literacy in practice. Also attitudes towards public participating are poor. Under International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2009) Finnish youth is passive concerning common cause. 

In addition to this the system of basic education has changed, so that the arrangements of special education have been moved toward inclusive teaching since 2011. So the support for literacy learning has to organize especially carefully. The starting point is that pupils can study together in spite of their linguistic background or learning abilities.  So it really seems, that different aspects of literacy instruction are worth of educational reform.

This paper concentrates on the issue, how literacy instruction should be organized so that it would promote language learning and capability of study for all in comprehensive school system in Finland. What are aims and contents of mother tongue and literature teaching, which at the same time is the school language? What kind of texts should be used and how literacy instruction organized in school subjects, so that reading, writing and communication will operate as the media of learning? How different school subjects co-operate with each other in literacy instruction? There are partly higher demands in some subjects than in mother tongue concerning literacy instruction in some age classes in the current curriculum (2004).

Finnish students again among top-performers in OECD 2010. PISA09. In http://ktl.jyu.fi/ktl/pisa/english. ICCS 2009. European Report. Civic knowledge, attitudes, and engagement among lower secondary students in 24 European countries. Ed. D. Kerr, L. Sturman, W. Schulz, & B. Burge. International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Kauppinen, M. 2010. Literacy delineated – reading literacy and its instruction in the curricula for the mother tongue in basic education. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä. Välijärvi, J., Kupari, P., Linnakylä, P., Reinikainen, P., Sulkunen, S., Törnroos, J. & Arffman, I. 2007. The Finnish success in PISA - and some reasons behind it 2. PISA 2003. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä. Välijärvi, J., Linnakylä, P., Kupari, P., Reinikainen, P. & Arffman, I. 2002. The Finnish success in PISA - and some reasons behind it. PISA 2000. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.