In the Finnish context, the effects of the Reformation on education and spreading of literacy have always been considered crucial. In the history of Finnish education, a special emphasis has been given to Luther’s idea about how everyone should be able to read and understand Sacred Scripture in their own language and, thereby, to the creation of the Finnish literary language. The Finnish history writing attributes to Luther’s idea two closely intertwined processes: The development of the Finnish literary language and the spread of reading and writing skills among Finns.

The Reformation and Luther’s idea of reading have without doubt contributed significantly to the development of the Finnish literary language. It is, however, wrong to claim that the Reformation has been the starting point for education in Finland in general or that it would have created a sudden change in the educational system. The education in Finland has, in fact, solid medieval roots, and the development of the educational system was a slow process, which ended with the spread of reading and writing skills to the whole Finnish population as late as around the turn of the 20^th century. This chapter aims at illustrating this development. The analysis begins with the Catholic Middle Ages but pays a special attention to the changes during the Reformation period, that is, the 16^th and 17^th centuries.