A technical disturbance has downed the City of Helsinki's switchboard, causing calls to drop or not go through. We are working to resolve the problem. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Pre-primary education

Lead-in paragraph

Children in Finland spend a year in pre-primary education before starting basic education in school. A day in pre-primary education is 4-hour-long, and it follows the regular school year. In Helsinki, pre-primary education is provided free of charge in public daycare centres and in some schools.

Children in Finland spend a year in pre-primary education before starting basic education in school. A day in pre-primary education is 4-hour-long, and it follows the regular school year.

In Helsinki, pre-primary education is provided free of charge in public daycare centres and in some schools.
All pre-primary education groups follow the same curriculum.

Pre-primary education is binding. This means that the child must participate in a year-long activity of pre-primary education or other similar activity that meets the objectives for pre-primary education the year before their compulsory education. Children of pre-primary education age are still entitled to daycare.

In Helsinki the Department of Early Childhood Education is responsible for the pre-primary education provided in Finnish and the Education Division is responsible for the pre-primary education provided in Swedish.