Espoo as a place to study esittelydiat 2011

Espoo as a place to study

Highest quality education

• The City of Espoo offers quality services and versatile recreational opportunities for its residents

• The second largest city in Finland (pop. around 250 000)

• As part of the metropolitan area, Espoo is globally recognised as a networked city with special expertise in high technology, education, culture, physical exercise, research and innovations

12.04.23Finnish Education Unit2

How the schools are run

• The Education and Cultural Services of Espoo organise basic education, pre-primary education and general upper secondary education in the city

• Teaching is provided in Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking schools that are administered in different units

• The Finnish Education Unit– is responsible for organising, evaluating and developing

education in Finnish-speaking schools– coordinates the organisation of student welfare and special

support to pupils– arranges for continuing education to teachers in

cooperation with the schools


Key figures of schools

• 97 comprehensive schools with roughly 27 000 pupils– 83 Finnish-speaking comprehensive schools

• 24 000 pupils, of which roughly 8 000 in middle schools• about 2 000 teachers

– 12 Swedish-speaking comprehensive schools• about 2 600 pupils in total

– 2 private schools• 11 Finnish-speaking general upper secondary schools

– About 4 600 students and roughly 300 teachers

• 1 general upper secondary school for adults (about 1 500 students)• 1 Swedish-speaking general upper secondary school (about 500 students)• Several upper secondary vocational education and training institutions, of

which the largest is Omnia• Polytechnics• Aalto University



Basic Education in short

• A nine-year comprehensive curriculum for the whole age group

• No degree; a final certificate will be given for completing the syllabus

• Teaching, text books and other materials, school transport and school meals are free

• Provides the necessary prerequisites for all upper secondary education

Basic Education in short

• Includes a one-year long voluntary pre-primary education in a school or day-care centre

• Local authorities can also provide voluntary morning and afternoon activities for pupils in basic education

• About 99 % of pupils receive a basic education certificate

• A high percentage goes on to upper secondary education



Pre-primary education

• Given in schools and day-care centres

• Lays emphasis on the preparation for school

• Special attention is paid to readiness for school attendance, i.e. to the phase of the child’s emotional, social and cognitive development

• Approximately 98 % of Espoo’s 6-year-olds attend pre-primary education

Pre-primary education

• Provided minimum 700 hours per year, maximum 4 hours a day

• Given roughly at the same time as schools operate during the school year

• Also ’starter pre-grade’ services for children who need more time before entering the comprehensive school system

• Recommended maximum size of teaching group 13 children


Comprehensive schools

• Comprehensive schools are either primary schools with grades 1–6, middle schools with grades 7–9 or joint comprehensive schools with grades 1–9

• All comprehensive schools in Espoo provide high-quality basic education

• Some of the schools offer classes where the teaching focuses on, for instance, physical education, mathematics and science, music, visual arts or performance arts.


Primary schools, classes 1-6

• Pupils have 20–26 hours of classes per week depending on their grade

• Classes are usually held in a specific classroom where the class teacher teaches most subjects

• Languages, for example, may be taught by someone other than the class teacher


Middle schools, classes 7-9

• Pupils have an average of 30 hours of classes per week

• Pupils study both common subjects as well as optional subjects

• Subjects are usually taught by individual subject teachers, and different subjects are taught in different classrooms

• Each class has their own tutor who attends to class issues and the cooperation between the home and the school


Competent teachers

• On all school levels, teachers are highly qualified and committed.

• The master’s degree is a requirement.

• Teacher education includes teaching practice.

• The teaching profession is very popular in Finland, and hence universities can select the most motivated and talented applicants.

• Teachers work independently and enjoy full autonomy in the classroom.


Competent teachers

Instruction may be given by• kindergarten teachers

o pre-primary education in separate pre-primary classes • class teachers

o instruction for grades 1–6 in basic education, teaching all subjects

o may also give pre-primary education • subject teachers

o teach one or several subjects in basic education (primarily in grades 7–9) and/or in general upper secondary education

• special needs teachers and special class teacherso instruction for children in need of special needs education

• pupil counsellors and student counsellorso educational guidance in basic education and in general

upper secondary education.


Pupil and student welfare

• Responsible for the physical, mental and social wellbeing of pupils and students.

• Aims to identify the pupils’ and students’ need for support as early as possible

• The support is provided by

– School social workers

– Psychologists

– Therapists

– School health care staff


Pupil and student welfare

• Free of charge and confidential• Organised in cooperation with

parents and teachers. • Each comprehensive school in

Espoo has a pupil welfare team that coordinates and develops pupil welfare– Also regional pupil welfare teams

that coordinate and develop pupil welfare in their area


Guidance in studies and choices

• All teachers are responsible for guiding pupils in their studies.

• Particularly important when the pupil transfers to another school, is making choices concerning his/her studies and during joint applications.

• Middle school pupils and general upper secondary school students also participate in classes on further education opportunities, working life and study skills.

• If necessary, pupils also receive personal guidance and advice.

• During the higher grades of comprehensive school, pupils become acquainted with working life during training periods of a week or two.

• In the lower grades, guidance is provided in connection with various subjects and other school activities.


Learning new languages


3rd gradeCompulsory foreign language for every pupil*, usually English

English (in some schools pupils can choose French or German)

4th grade Optional foreign languageFrench, German, Swedish, Russian (English is compulsory, if not started in 3rd grade)

7th gradeCompulsory Swedish for every pupil

Swedish

8th grade Optional foreign languageFrench, German (in some schools Spanish, Russian)

Upper comprehensive school

Courses in English and Swedish are compulsory.

Students can continue to study optional languages started in comprehensive school and/or choose new optional languages.

French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Chinese, Japanese

* Some schools introduce a foreign language already in 1st grade.

Education of linguistic and cultural groups

• The Finnish-speaking schools in Espoo have about 3 000 foreign-language pupils and students.

• In addition, the schools have children from bilingual families and Finnish returnees, whose official mother tongue is Finnish, but who need similar support with their language studies as foreign-language pupils.

• The educational aim for different linguistic and cultural groups is– to ensure that pupils obtain the skills and knowledge

of comprehensive school– a functional bilingualism– equal opportunities to pursue further studies.

• Pupils whose Finnish language skills are not at the mother tongue level study Finnish as a second language.


Education of linguistic and cultural groups

• Children with an immigrant background can receive education in their own mother tongue.

• Finnish returnee pupils and children adopted from abroad can also participate in the classes to maintain language skills acquired abroad.

• Education in the mother tongue is provided in more than 30 languages.

• 8 different religious and ethical subjects are taught in Espoo.


Preparatory education

• Children who are in need of support with their Finnish language begin their schooling in preparatory education

• Lasts for one school year• For pre-primary-aged children and first graders, preparatory

education is organised in conjunction with ordinary pre-primary and first grade education

• Pupils in grades 2–9 are assigned to separate groups for preparatory education

• After preparatory education, the pupil is transferred to basic education, where he/she receives intensive support with his/her studies, if necessary
