Distribution of lesson hours to be harmonised
Previously, each City of Helsinki's municipal comprehensive school has made their own decisions on the distribution of lesson hours. This is why there have been some differences between schools in the progression of teaching and on how optional subjects have been organised.
In future, all comprehensive schools in the City of Helsinki will follow a uniform distribution of lesson hours. The harmonised distribution of lesson hours is already in place for grades 1 and 2. It will be gradually introduced for grades 3 to 9 between 2027 and 2029.
What will change?
The change means that the teaching of different subjects will proceed in a uniform way in all schools. This promotes the equality of education and pupils. This will also make it easier for pupils changing schools to continue their studies in the new school.
When the distribution of lesson hours is the same for each school, the total number of hours per week for pupils in all comprehensive schools will be broadly the same. A pupil’s total number of lesson hours depends on factors such as whether they are studying an optional language. The distribution of lesson hours differs slightly between Finnish- and Swedish-language schools, as Swedish-language schools begin teaching the second national language earlier than Finnish-language schools.
Harmonising the distribution of lesson hours evens out the number of optional study options available to pupils. In future, when a pupil takes optional language studies, these will take place during optional classes in all schools, and the pupil will not choose any other optional studies. The change in distribution of lesson hours will affect the offerings of optional studies at schools. The schools will update their optional studies offering before the introduction of the harmonised distribution of lesson hours.
If the pupil is in weighted-curriculum education focusing on artistic and practical subjects, the optional lessons related to these subjects will be allocated to the weighted-curriculum education as before. After the harmonisation of the distribution of lesson hours, studying in weighted-curriculum education is equalised between all schools.
Teams event for parents and guardians on 2 Feb 2026 at 17.30
Join us for an event to learn more about the harmonisation of the Finnish-language comprehensive schools’ distribution of lesson hours in grades 3–9. The event will be held in Finnish.
Link to the Teams event will sent via Wilma to the parents and guardians in Finnish-language schools.
For parents and guardians in Swedish-language schools: we will publish an info video on this page on 2 February 2026.
Give feedback
Parents and guardians can share their own views on the harmonisation of the distribution of lesson hours by filling in a feedback survey. The survey will be open 2–17 February 2026. A link to the survey will be distributed at the Teams event and will also be published on this page on 3 February 2026.