Finland opens English-language upper secondary studies in six cities

English-language upper secondary education has begun this autumn in six Finnish cities, giving students who do not yet have sufficient Finnish or Swedish the chance to complete their studies, Yle reports.

The programme is intended for young people who have studied in the Finnish comprehensive school system for no more than three years. In addition to Vantaa, the participating cities are Helsinki, Tampere, Jyväskylä, Oulu and Pori. The programme is expected to expand to at least Espoo and Turku next year.

Eoghan Donnelly, Aakash Gamage and their classmates are the first students on the English-language programme at Aviapolis upper secondary school in Vantaa.

The school has 30 places on the programme, but demand is higher. Principal Mika Luukkonen said he had received 20 inquiries about available places.

For 17-year-old Gamage, who moved to Finland from Sri Lanka with his parents less than two years ago, studying in Finnish was difficult after he completed ninth grade in Finland. He applied for the English-language programme because studying in English is much easier for him.

“Hopefully I will now get better grades,” Gamage said. He hopes to become a businessman, but also looks forward to making new friends and enjoying his time at school.

Donnelly, 24, is originally from Ireland and left school in the United Kingdom when he entered working life. He now hopes to attend university and is considering studies in history, philosophy, physics or engineering.

He has lived in Finland for more than a year and a half and already speaks some Finnish. Without the English-language programme, he said, he would first have had to learn Finnish completely.

The new programme is also presenting challenges for teachers. Many are not used to teaching in English, and suitable materials are not always available in languages other than Finnish and Swedish.

Juho-Kustaa Mäkinen, who teaches history, social studies and ethics at Aviapolis upper secondary school, said publishers had not been eager to produce English-language materials. He has translated some of his previous teaching materials himself and uses articles from English-language media to supplement textbooks.

English-language upper secondary education follows the Finnish upper secondary curriculum. Previously, students in Finland could complete the international International Baccalaureate programme in English.

English-language matriculation examinations will be translation versions of the Finnish- and Swedish-language examinations, with the same content. Students completing the English-language qualification must also take an examination in Finnish or Swedish as a second language. The English-language matriculation examinations can be taken from autumn 2028.