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Compulsory education

Children living permanently in Finland are required to attend school. Compulsory education begins at the beginning of the school year in the year in which the child turns seven. Compulsory education will end when a young person has their 18th birthday, or when they have completed an upper secondary education degree (matriculation examination or vocational degree) before their 18th birthday.

Introduction

Education and training Families with children Young people
Compulsory education begins at the beginning of the school year in the year in which the child turns seven. Young people who finish basic education are obliged to apply for training after basic education in a joint application. Compulsory education ends when the young person turns 18 or when he completes a second-level degree (matriculation degree or vocational degree) before that.

Rights and obligations of the young and the guardians

A young person who finishes basic education is obliged to apply for education after basic education in a joint application. To support the choice of education, the young person receives student guidance at school and, if necessary, enhanced personal student guidance. According to the Compulsory Education Act, compulsory education ends when a young person turns 18 or has completed a second-level degree (at a high school or vocational school). The guardian is responsible for the young person applying for post-primary education.

Studies are generally free of charge for compulsory secondary students until the end of the calendar year when the student turns 20. Students get access to the necessary tools and materials needed to complete their degree free of charge, for example textbooks and work tools as well as matriculation examinations. However, education focusing on special subjects may incur costs for the students.

The guardian shall monitor the completion of the young person's compulsory education. In practice, this means that the guardian monitors the progress of the student's studies, taking into account the age level. If a young person remains without a study place, the guardian, together with the young person and the staff of the municipality of residence, will look for a suitable study place for the young person.

Responsibility to mentor and supervise those subject to compulsory education

Mentoring responsibility entails

  • to ensure that the young person applies for upper secondary education and begins the studies after termination of basic education
  • to monitor that the young person performs their compulsory education at the educational institution and that the studies progress according to the goal set
  • the student’s municipality of residence bears the mentoring and supervising responsibility. 

Assigning a study place

A study place will be assigned to those subject to compulsory education that have no study place in transition training (TUVA education, preparatory education for programs leading to an upper secondary qualification; academic year for those subject to compulsory education; TELMA education, preparatory training for work and independent life) after two months of the time the young person was registered at the municipality of residence if they do not have a study place at the time. The young person can freely apply for upper secondary education; when they so wish, they are entitled to application guidance.

At the City of Vantaa, those subject to compulsory education are monitored and instructed by:

  • Municipality of residence advisor Karita Snellman, tel. 040 157 9732, email: karita.snellman@vantaa.fi. Do not hesitate to call the municipality of residence advisor whenever you have concerns or questions about studying and compulsory education.

Suspension of compulsory education

When required, a suspension of compulsory education may be granted to the young person, for example, due to health reasons, long-term disability or sickness, or for the duration of parental leave.

Completion of compulsory schooling is generally suspended temporarily, i.e. for the estimated duration of the condition preventing the completion of compulsory schooling.

Grounds for temporarily suspending compulsory education are:

  • maternity, paternity or parental leave 
  • a long-term illness or disability that prevents the completion of compulsory schooling OR another weighty reason related to the life situation that prevents the completion of compulsory schooling.
  • for the duration of a temporary stay abroad lasting at least 1 month, if the subject is participating in training abroad equivalent to completing compulsory education or can otherwise be considered to be completing compulsory education during the stay abroad (e.g. exchange study, family temporarily moves abroad)

Completion of compulsory education can be suspended for the time being only if the illness or disability preventing the completion of compulsory education is permanent in nature.

The decision to suspend compulsory education is made upon the application of the guardian or other legal representative of the person who is obliged to attend school. 

The organizer of the teaching or training decides on the suspension of compulsory education. If the young person does not have a place to study, the municipality of residence of the compulsory student decides on suspension. You can get more information from your own school or educational institution.

Application for temporary suspension of compulsory education (531275e).pdf(pdf, 108.4 KB) Oppivelvollisuuden määräaikainen keskeytys -hakemus (in Finnish)

 

More information on the website of the Ministry of Education and Culture

Extension of compulsory education Questions and answers related to compulsory education
Basic education site
Compulsory education Youth 13-20 yr. Primary schools

Units

Service has 61 units in total