Instruction preparing for basic education
Instruction preparing for basic education is intended for all children and young people of immigrant origin of pre-primary and basic education age who do not yet have the necessary language proficiency for pre-primary or basic education. The focus is on developing language skills and preparing pupils for pre-primary or basic education. Both children and young people with an immigrant background who have recently immigrated to Finland and children and young people born in Finland are eligible. No residence permit is required.
Since there is no national distribution of lesson hours or syllabus for instruction preparing for basic education, each pupil has their own study programme. The study programme defines the student’s learning objectives, the subjects to be studied, the number of lessons and content, the integration of the pupil into age-appropriate pre-primary or basic education classes, the organisation of guidance and any support the pupil may need.
Instruction preparing for basic education corresponds in scope to the syllabus for one school year. For pupils aged 6-10 years, 900 hours of instruction are provided, and for pupils above this age, at least 1,000 hours. A pupil may move on to pre-primary or basic education before the number of hours of preparatory instruction is reached if they are deemed to be sufficiently prepared.