A cooperation agreement between the municipality and the National Library to produce e-library services has been completed. The goal is to have everyone who signed the agreement by March 15th be added to the E-library before the E-library's official opening date of April 23, 2024.

The joint e-library of the municipalities is a one-stop e-library. This means that a diverse e-library collection can be accessed easily and effortlessly from anywhere in Finland via a single website or mobile application. The new e-library gives Finnish library customers more equal and easier-to-use access to the libraries' digital content. Using the joint e-library requires that your municipality of residence has joined the e-library. If all Finnish municipalities join the joint e-library, all Finns will have equal opportunities to use the same extensive e-material collection, i.e. to read e-books, listen to e-audiobooks and read digital print versions of e-magazines.

Municipal public libraries currently spend an average of EUR 0,80 per inhabitant per year on e-material costs. When the joint municipal e-library starts operating in early 2024, its costs will be approximately EUR 0,70 per inhabitant. The e-library offers a wide and diverse selection of the most used e-materials: audiobooks, e-books and magazines, as well as an easy-to-use user interface for customers. The e-library is financed by annual fees charged to municipalities, the amount of which is agreed in the contract. Negotiations on whether the state has the opportunity to participate in financing the maintenance and development of the e-library's technical system are still ongoing.

Supporting material: E-library brochure for municipal decision-makers. Other supporting material will be presented at the meeting.

According to the Basic Education Act, the municipality decides on the working and holiday hours of schools. The law only stipulates that school work begins in August and ends on the last weekday of the 22nd week (PA § 7). There are 190 working days in an academic year, but Independence Day, Epiphany or May Day, which fall on a weekday other than Saturday, each reduce the length of the academic year by one day (PL § 23).

There are 187 working days in the academic year 2024–2025 and a proposal for working days and vacation times is included in Appendix No. 1. According to the proposal, the academic year 2024–2025 will begin on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, the autumn break will be in week 42, and the autumn semester will end on Friday, December 20, 2024. The spring semester will begin on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, the winter break will be in week 9, and the academic year will end on Saturday, June 1, 2024.

Agenda attachments:

Working and holiday days in the academic year 2024-2025 (Appendix 1)

The increase in B1 language teaching is based on the renewed national language strategy prepared in accordance with the program of Prime Minister Sanna Marin's government (Government Publications 2021:87), which secures everyone's right to receive services in national languages ​​and improves the language climate. Prime Minister Marin's government outlined in the budget debate on the 2023 budget on 1 September 2022 that B1 language teaching would be increased by one hour per week.

The Decree on the National Objectives of Education and the Distribution of Hours in Basic Education (422/2012) was amended so that in the future, 2 hours per week of B1 language must be taught in the 7th grade and a total of 3 hours per week in the 8th–9th grades (amendment to the Decree 111/2023). The minimum number of hours of B1 language teaching was therefore increased to a total of seven hours per week. For this reason, the average minimum number of hours per week of basic education in the 7th grade, as laid down in the Basic Education Decree (852/1998), was also increased by one hour (amendment to the Decree 112/2023). No changes were made to the number of hours of B1 language in the 6th grade.

In accordance with the Government's decision, the allocation of an additional hour to the 7th grade aims to allow sufficient time for teaching the B1 curriculum when moving from classroom teaching to subject teaching, and to ensure that the teaching objectives can be achieved during grades 7–9. In accordance with the Government's position, the more precise allocation of teaching hours by grade also increases consistency between municipalities and schools. The intention has also been that the increase in hours will not increase the teaching objectives or content in the basic curriculum, but rather to allocate more time for the more leisurely study of the current objectives from the 7th grade onwards.

The amendments to the Decree on the Distribution of Hours and the Decree on Basic Education will enter into force on 1 August 2024. In addition, the Finnish National Board of Education will make the necessary changes to the basic education curriculum and inform the education providers separately about them. Therefore, the new minimum amount of B1 language teaching (a total of seven hours per week) will also apply to students in the 8th and 9th grades from 1 August 2024. Although the increase in the number of hours was targeted at students starting in the 7th grade on 1 August 2024, depending on the local distribution of hours, education providers must ensure that a total of 7 hours per week of B1 language teaching are provided to students in the 9th grade in the 2024–2025 academic year. Similarly, for students in the 8th grade in the 2024–2025 academic year, education providers must ensure that B1 language instruction is organized in such a way that the minimum number of 7 weekly lessons is met no later than in the 2025–2026 academic year, when the students are in the 9th grade.

Permanent additional costs will be compensated as part of the central government transfer for basic municipal services in accordance with Section 5 of the Act on Central Government Transfers for Basic Municipal Services (618/2021). In the Public Finance Plan for 2024–2027, paragraph 28.90.30 was allocated EUR 4,135,000 for 2024 due to the change in the scope of the B1 language, which corresponds to 5/12 of the total cost of the change and EUR 9,925,000 from 2025 onwards.

With the help of TEAvisari, municipal decision-makers receive information on how the municipality is doing in promoting health and well-being. By examining information on sectors, the municipality's key development needs and strengths can be found. The service provides pre-analyzed information, for example, to support school-specific student care plans and to prepare well-being reports. Information on activities enables the setting of concrete goals and monitoring their implementation.

The TEA guide highlights the municipality's activities in promoting the health and well-being of its residents. The dimensions of health promotion activity (TEA) describe the activities from different perspectives. The basic idea is that in order to operate with high quality and efficiency, the municipality must take all these perspectives into account.

• COMMITMENT The organization's commitment to promoting health and well-being at a strategic level.
• MANAGEMENT Organizing, defining responsibilities and implementing the promotion of health and well-being.
• MONITORING AND NEEDS ANALYSIS Monitoring and needs analysis of factors affecting the health and well-being of the population by population group, as well as reporting to the management team and elected officials.
• RESOURCES Resourcing for the promotion of health and well-being, e.g. personnel sizing and expertise.
• COMMON PRACTICES Agreeing on common operating practices.
• PARTICIPATION The opportunity for the population to participate in the development and evaluation of activities.
• OTHER CORE ACTIVITIES Sector-specific health and well-being promotion activities that should be implemented in every organization.

THL collects information on health-promoting cultural activities every other year in the spring of odd-numbered years. A link to the data collection form to be filled out in the electronic service is sent to all municipalities in mainland Finland, to officials responsible for cultural activities.

This data collection examined the measures, resources and operating practices of culture that promote well-being and health in municipalities. The development of information production and information resources is related to the cultural policy guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Culture and their monitoring, as well as the monitoring of the implementation of the Act on Cultural Activities of Municipalities (166/2019).

In addition to the survey, the data is supplemented with data from the Finnish Public Library Statistics information system, Statistics Finland and the State Treasury.

The results of the Culture TEA Guide will be presented at the meeting. The results are available for everyone to see at https://teaviisari.fi/teaviisari/fi/index.

Decisions of the Director of Welfare for the period 19.01.-21.02.2024.

• Youth space opening ceremony February 16, 2024
• School psychologist recruitment
• Annual grants announced for application by February 29, 2024
• Financial statement schedule
• Current issues raised by board members
• Let's arrange the next meeting time.