Home schooling
Children under the age of 18 permanently residing in Finland must receive compulsory education. An individual subject to compulsory education must either attend basic education as organised under the Basic Education Act or otherwise obtain learning equivalent to the primary and lower secondary education syllabus. Compulsory education may be received in a home school setting. In this case, the child is not a pupil in a school, but the guardian assumes responsibility for organising their education, including both the procurement of study materials and the actual study. When transferring a child to home schooling, the guardian must notify their municipality of residence of the enrolment. The head teacher of the local school will provide the guardian with a form to fill out.
Under section 26, subsection 3 of the Basic Education Act, the municipality of residence of the individual subject to compulsory education is obliged to monitor their progress. A supervising teacher will confer with the guardian and inform them of both the principles observed in the monitoring and the practical arrangements to that end.
An individual subject to compulsory education must acquire the skills and knowledge meeting the criteria of the National core curriculum for basic education (2014) as approved by the Finnish National Agency for Education. The individual subject to compulsory education must undergo studies towards the mission of education and primary content of all of the subjects included in the basic education syllabus.
The primary and lower secondary education syllabus comprises the following common subjects:
- mother tongue and literature
- second national language, Swedish or Finnish
- foreign language
- environmental studies
- health education
- religious or ethical education
- history
- social studies
- mathematics
- physics
- chemistry
- biology
- geography
- physical education
- music
- visual arts
- crafts
- home economics
The primary and lower secondary education syllabus or part thereof can be completed through a separate examination as laid out in the Basic Education Act and Decree (Basic Education Act, section 38, Basic Education Decree, section 23). For individuals subject to compulsory education undergoing home schooling, the separate examination will be organised by the Minna Canth School in collaboration with the City of Kuopio upper secondary school for adults. Those undergoing home schooling must register for the examination with the head teacher of Minna Canth School.