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.

APPLICATION PERIOD HAS ENDED!

Fill in the Enrolment in the 1st grade of comprehensive school form onn Wilma(external link, opens in a new window) during the period of 10–20 January 2023 or submit a paper version of the form to the Finnish Basic Education Unit by 20 January 2023. The return address of the paper form is provided at the top of the form. 

Special support must be applied for collaboratively 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 (a psychological or medical assessment, for example).

APPLICATION PERIOD HAS ENDED!

Fill in the Enrolment in the 7th grade of comprehensive school form on Wilma(external link, opens in a new window) during the period of 10–17 January 2023 or submit a paper version of the form to your child’s current City of Espoo school by 17 January 2023. You must apply for a special support decision separately in collaboration with your child’s 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 (a psychological or medical assessment, for example).

The pupil will be designated a local school if the special support decision mandates that the special support is to be provided in a general teaching group. The criteria based on which a local school is designated are detailed on this page.

The designation of a special class is carried out in accordance with the aforementioned criteria, insofar as applicable. The sibling principle is not applied, however.

1. The school works with you to prepare a pedagogical report of your child’s special support needs. The pedagogical report can also be supplemented with an expert’s statement.

2. The school sets up a meeting with you to discuss the different options for organising your child’s special support. 

3. In the meeting (hearing), the school determines your and your child’s views regarding the organisation of special support and the teaching arrangements to be applied for. E.g. whether your child will be provided with special support in a general teaching group or special class and what kind of school-going support measures your child needs. The teaching arrangements to be applied for and views will be written down on the Hearing of the Guardians and Pupil form that is filled during the meeting. 

4. The school assembles your child’s special support application documents and submits them to the Finnish Basic Education Unit. 

5. The application documents are processed at the Finnish Basic Education Unit and the superintendent of schools issues a decision on the organisation of your child’s special support.

If your child is not in school yet, the pedagogical report will be prepared at your child’s pre-primary education unit. The Finnish Basic Education Unit will designate a school for your child that will take care of steps 2–5 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 that the proposal on the organisation of your child’s special support will be based on. At the meeting, you will be told 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 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 at the child’s local school. However, special support can also be provided in a special class if this is in the best interest of the child and necessitated by teaching arrangements. The organisation of special support is decided on a case-by-case 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 submit a request for administrative review to the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland within 14 days of being notified of the decision. Instructions on how to submit a request for administrative review are provided as an attachment to the decision.