Applying for special education

You can apply for a special support decision in collaboration with your child’s current school. Please contact your child’s school.

Fill in the form Application for 1st grade of Comprehensive School through Wilma(external link, opens in a new window) between 8-20 January 2025 or submit a paper form to the Finnish Basic Education Unit by 20 January 2025. The return address of the paper form is informed in the form.

Special support must be applied separately in collaboration by you and your child’s designated school. The special support application documents include:

• A pedagogical report of special support needs
• The Hearing of the Guardian and Pupil form (filled at the meeting)
• An expert’s statement, if necessary (for example a psychological or medical assessment).

Fill in the form Application for 1st grade of Comprehensive School through Wilma(external link, opens in a new window) between 8–15 January 2025, or submit a paper form to your child’s current City of Espoo school by 15 January 2025. 

Special support must be applied separately in collaboration by you and your child’s current school in Espoo. The special support application documents include:

• A pedagogical report of special support needs
• The Hearing of the Guardian and Pupil form (filled at the meeting)
• An expert’s statement, if necessary (a psychological or medical assessment, for example)

The pupil will be assigned a local school if the special support decision mandates that the special support is to be provided in a general teaching group. The principles of pupil admission are detailed on this page.

A special class is assigned in accordance with the aforementioned principles. However, the sibling basis is not considered.

1. The school draws up a pedagogical report on the child's special support needs in cooperation between the home and the school. The pedagogical report may be supplemented by an expert opinion.
2. The school arranges a hearing to discuss the options for providing special support for the child.
3. The school holds a hearing to obtain the views of the parents and the child on the educational arrangements to be sought. These views are recorded on the Consultation of Guardians and Pupil form to be completed at the meeting.
4. The school collects the application documents (consultation, pedagogical statement, and any expert reports).
5. If the request is for the support to be provided by a local school, the decision is taken by the school principal. 
6. If the application is for a special class at regional or city level, the school submits the application documents to the Finnish basic education unit and the decision is made by the Superintendent of Schools.

The pedagogical report for children in pre-primary education is drawn up in the pre-primary education department. The Finnish basic education unit dfines the child a school that will take care of steps 2 to 6 above.

More information on the special needs decision is available on the website of the Finnish National Agency for Education(external link, opens in a new window) (in Finnish and Swedish).

The hearing means a meeting at which the guardians’ and the child’s views regarding the organisation of special support are determined. The hearing is usually carried out in the form of a personal meeting. The meeting is held before the issuing of a special support decision.

The school will send you an invitation to the meeting that serves as the hearing. Attached to the invitation you will find the documents or reports of the proposal on the organisation of your child’s special support will be based on. At the meeting, you will be informed about the different options for organising special support and how your child’s special support is to be organised. The matters will also be explained to your child, taking into account their age and possible special needs.

The purpose of the meeting organised by the school is to agree upon the teaching arrangements to be applied for and determine the child’s and guardians’ views regarding the organisation of special support. In other words, the meeting is not a decision-making event. As the decision-maker, the superintendent of schools or principal can exercise their own judgement, as a result of which the decision may sometimes differ from what was applied for for the child.

Special support is primarily provided in the child's own local school, integrated into mainstream education, or in a school-specific special class. If the child's interests and the organisation of education so require, special support may be provided in a regional or city-level special class. The organisation of special support is decided on a child-by-child basis.

Information on support for learning and school-going and the different forms of support is available on this page.

Special support decisions are reviewed during 2nd grade and before the transition to 7th grade. Special support decisions can also be reviewed at other times in the event of changes in the child’s support needs.

More information on the review of special needs decision is available on the website of the Finnish National Agency for Education(external link, opens in a new window) (in Finnish and Swedish).

Please contact the superintendent of schools who made the decision and/or the special support planner who prepared the decision to discuss the grounds for the decision in greater detail. Their contact information is included on the decision.

If you are still dissatisfied with the decision after this, you can appeal the decision by submitting a written demand for rectification to the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland within 14 days. The decision is accompanied by detailed instructions.