The City of Helsinki has opened a new, continuous admission to English-language basic education. The goal is to provide the children of international families easier access to English-language basic education and thus attract international professionals to Helsinki.
The City of Helsinki wants to improve the availability of English-language education so that all children can be granted a suitable school place flexibly, also in the middle of the school year. At the same time, Helsinki has also significantly increased the number of English-language school places over the recent years. The city also actively monitors the demand for English-language school places and is prepared to respond to increased demand if necessary.
Finnish school system gives Helsinki competitive edge
The availability of English-language school places is crucial, as Helsinki is involved in international competition over top professionals whose work contribution is sought by numerous companies. If, in addition to work and pay, the other living conditions on offer are not in order, sought-after professionals may very well choose another city instead of Helsinki. Many professionals stress already during the recruitment process that it is essential to them that their children have access to English-language education.
“The excellent Finnish school system gives Helsinki considerable competitive edge in international competition. We have already significantly increased the number and availability of English-language school places, also in the middle of the school year. However, this alone is not enough, we must constantly develop all our services in English and create, among other things, soft landing services that will make it faster and easier for professionals to decide to settle in Helsinki,” says Marja-Leena Rinkineva, Director of Economic Development at the City of Helsinki.
Continuous admission enables coherent learning paths for English-speaking children
Continuous admission to basic education in English is intended to children without a school place who have previously studied in English-language education that is equivalent to Finnish basic education either abroad or in Finland. In addition, if there are vacancies, the school may also admit a child who lives in Helsinki and, according to the school’s assessment, has sufficient language skills to study in English-language basic education.
Read more about the application process to English-language basic education in this news item.
News photo: Helsinki wants to streamline the application process to English-language basic education. (Maija Astikainen)