From 21 August 2018, these instructions apply to all educational institutions providing basic arts education and approved by the Culture Division of the City of Helsinki Culture and Leisure Committee. In addition to the Act on Basic Arts Education, other regulations, the National Core Curriculum of the Finnish National Agency for Education and its new curricula, all educational institutions must comply with these instructions. If the operations of an institution experience significant changes or if the institution does not comply with the curricula, legislation or instructions, the approval of its curriculum may be cancelled.
An institution of basic arts education must:
- Notify the City of Helsinki of any significant changes in its operations that affect the institution’s ability to operate and/or the nature of its operations.
- Respond to requests for information and queries from the City of Helsinki regarding basic arts education.
- Create an equality and non-discrimination plan for itself taking into account the nature and scope of its activities. Students and their parents must be notified of these plans.
- Upload its curriculum to the ePerusteet service of the Finnish National Agency for Education and publish it on its own website, for example.
- Safeguard the students’ interests so that the students and their guardians are always aware of the syllabus that the students are studying and what their rights as students are. The approval of a curriculum only covers the subjects and syllabi specified in the decision, and students must not be provided with basic arts education in any subjects or syllabi without an approved curriculum.
- Participate in art education meetings and forums organised by the City of Helsinki.
The institutions must comply with the Basic Arts Education Act 1998/633.
The Act states that:
- Basic arts education is goal-oriented and progresses from one level to the next.
- Education shall not be provided for financial gain.
- An education provider shall evaluate the education it provides and participate in external assessments of its operations.
- Student evaluations are intended to guide and motivate students and to improve the students’ self-evaluation skills. The students’ work shall be comprehensively assessed.
- The Finnish National Agency for Education makes all decisions regarding student evaluation and information to be included in diplomas.
- All educational institutions that provide education specified in the Act shall have a principal in charge of the operations.
- The educational institution shall have a sufficient number of teaching posts or teachers working with employment contracts in relation to how the institution is arranging the education it provides. In addition, the education provider may have hourly-paid teachers and other staff.
- Within two months of receiving their assessment results, a student may request that the teacher or teachers who performed the assessment perform it again. If the student is dissatisfied with the new assessment or the decision to reject their request for one, the student may file a complaint with the principal.
- Students may be charged a reasonable tuition fee.
The educational institution must comply with the National Core Curriculum for Basic Arts Education prepared by the Finnish National Agency for Education(Link leads to external service) (in Finnish).
The core curriculum states that:
- Curricula created based on the new core curriculum must be implemented from 1 August 2018. Students beginning their studies after 31 July 2018 must follow the core curriculum.
- Students who have begun their studies before 1 August 2018 may continue their studies based on the old curricula until 31 July 2021.
- Education providers must plan the courses they offer and decide on the amount of teaching they will provide in accordance with the core curriculum.
- According to section 5a of the Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986, as amended by the Act 1329/2014), education providers are responsible for ensuring that each educational institution prepares a gender equality plan annually in cooperation with staff and pupils or students. Instead of an annual review, the plan may be prepared no less than once every three years. The gender equality plan may be incorporated into the curriculum or some other plan drawn up by the educational institution.
- According to section 6, subsection 2 of the Non-discrimination Act, the education provider must ensure that the educational institution has a plan for the necessary measures for promotion of equality. The equality plan may be included in the curriculum.
The competence requirements for principals and teachers are provided for in the Decree on Qualification Requirements for Teaching Staff (1998/986).
The operations of educational institutions are also governed by the detailed guidance by the Finnish Tax Administration concerning VAT in educational services (in Finnish).
The institutions are responsible for ensuring compliance with these instructions.
List of educational institutions with an approved curriculum