The survey is carried out in March and April. It is organised every two years by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
Satu Järvenkallas, Head of Education Division of Helsinki, encourages everyone who receives the survey to respond to it.
“Every answer counts. The survey provides valuable information about the well-being of our learners. The data is used to develop our services and operations,” says Järvenkallas.
Anonymous answers, several languages
Pupils and students respond to the electronic survey independently and anonymously. Teachers arrange time for the survey during a lesson, at a time of their choice.
This year, the questionnaire has been shortened significantly. In addition, the survey has been tested with children and young people to ensure that the questions are well understood.
The School Health Promotion Study provides diverse information about children’s and young people’s well-being, health, school attendance, studies and participation as well as their experiences of getting of help and services.
The survey is available in Finnish, Swedish, English, Russian and Northern Sámi. Shortened questionnaires in simple Finnish and simple Swedish are also available.
School Health Promotion Study participants and schedule
Basic education pupils in grades 4 and 5: 1–31 March 2023
Basic education pupils in grades 8 and 9: 3–28 April 2023
1st and 2nd year students in general upper secondary schools: 3–28 April 2023
1st and 2nd year students in vocational institutions: 1 March–28 April 2023.
In vocational institutions, the survey is taken by students under 21 years of age studying for an initial vocational qualification.
An important tool for the development of activities
The School Health Promotion Study is an important tool, an indicator for monitoring the health and well-being of children and young people in Helsinki. The survey provides information from different districts in Helsinki and on a school-specific basis.
Helsinki district-specific results will be completed in early autumn 2023 and the school-specific results after that. Schools and educational institutions will have access to their own results to develop their activities. The redesigned result service will offer even better opportunities to review the development of well-being. In addition, schools and educational institutions will receive the average data for Helsinki, to which they can compare their own results.
The results of the School Health Promotion Study are widely used in the city to promote well-being: many things will be improved based on the data obtained from the survey. To this end, Helsinki has drawn up a model for the utilisation of data from the School Health Promotion Study and a model for school-specific utilisation.
The aim is to develop operations and services based on the results. For example, the School Health Promotion Study provides information to monitor the success of development work to promote well-being in the school community.