Oulu reverses plan to scatter special needs pupils across mainstream schools

The city of Oulu in northern Finland has abandoned plans to transfer dozens of children with special needs from a dedicated special education unit to mainstream schools across the city, according to Yle.

The children currently attending the Heinätori unit of Tiernan special school will instead keep their familiar small-group settings. Although the Heinätori building is set to be repurposed as part of a city-wide service network reorganisation, the pupils will be relocated to new premises being built in the Toppila district of Oulu.

“Yes, the Heinätori unit as a whole will move to new facilities that are currently being built,” said Mika Penttilä, Oulu’s director of education and culture.

The children will continue using the current Heinätori building until the new facilities, to be known as Ankkuri and placed under the administration of Tuira school, are completed.

Earlier this year, Oulu had planned to dissolve the Heinätori groups entirely by autumn 2027 and transfer the pupils to their respective neighbourhood schools. At the time, Yle reported that similar moves in several Finnish cities were raising concerns that such transitions would harm children’s educational development.

A separate change is also planned within Tiernan school’s broader restructuring. The Tuiranpuisto unit of Tiernan’s hospital school will be closed, and its two teaching groups will move into premises run by the North Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County. The aim is to consolidate hospital schooling into a single unit.

“The same groups will remain intact,” said Niina Oksman, principal of Tiernan school, which includes the hospital school.

Oulu’s education and culture committee was scheduled to review the service network plan covering city schools on Tuesday, 19 May. Tiernan school has around 230 pupils in total. The Heinätori unit currently has more than 50 pupils, while the Tuiranpuisto unit has around 15.