SMART Community Review (SCR) Teacher education in Finland | Page 14

or expansive. If children cannot adequately cope
with mainstream education in spite of general or
intensified form of support, they must be given
special support. The main purpose of special
support is to provide pupils with broadly based
and systematic help so that they can complete
compulsory education and be eligible for upper
secondary education.
Special needs support is also provided in
upper secondary education. In vocational
education and training, students in need of
special needs education are provided with an
individual education plan. This plan must for
example set out details of the qualification to
be completed, the requirements observed and
support measures provided for the student.
Efforts are made for supporting language
minorities and migrants
Finland has two official languages, Finnish and
Swedish. Approximately five per cent of students
in basic and upper secondary education attend
a school where Swedish is the language of
instruction. Both language groups have their
own institutions also at higher education level. In
addition there are educational institutions where
all or at least some instruction is provided in a
foreign language, most commonly in English.
Local authorities are also required to organise
education in the Sami language in Sami-speaking
areas of Lapland. Care is taken to ensure
educational opportunities for Roma and other
minorities as well as for people who use sign
language. Education providers can, for example,
apply for additional funding for organising
instruction in Roma and Sami languages as
well as for instruction in the migrant pupil’s
mother tongue. Education providers also
organise preparatory education for migrants to
8  Finnish education in a nutshell