Helsinki has prepared for the fact that there are more people coming to high schools from elsewhere than before.
Helsinki high schools may be flooded with newcomers next fall.
Free second degree also means that trips of more than seven miles to high school do not have to be paid for yourself. This may raise entry limits in the capital if a larger proportion of young people want to visit Helsinki.
So what can a young person from Helsinki do if the average of their graduation certificate is worrying? Are there gimmicks, or will a high school in the capital have a tighter screen in the future than elsewhere?
We asked the head of high school education in Helsinki Harri Korhosta to think about it. But first, she wants to give the same advice as she would give to her own child.
In a joint search, first enter the high school you want the most. Although it would be difficult to achieve.
Then complete all four of the following sections as well and add realism to each section. Think about where you can really get there.
Lastly, choose something that is sure to get you there. Something where there is plenty of room for maneuver.
But how do you know what that safe choice would be?
Wait and see first, what the situation has been like last year.
In Helsinki, there is talk of rising averages every year. Typically, horror is concentrated in the small minority of high schools where the average limit has hurt above 9.5.
In that case, you forget that there are still many good high schools in Helsinki, where the required average starts at eight or seven. The lowest limit in the joint search was exactly seven on the Swedish side and only slightly above it on the Finnish side.
“The averages have risen over a long period of time, but there were no major changes last year. In some high schools, the limit also dropped, ”says Korhonen.
There have long been more arrivals from elsewhere than from Helsinki, but the share has remained the same for a long time.
Helsinki’s high school network differs from others in that there are many private high schools alongside the city’s high schools, many of which, at the same time, run upper secondary schools as part of the primary school network. Then there are the normal schools of the university.
With the calculator below, you can see where the average or point limit according to the Board of Education was in the joint search in the high schools involved.
Will change this next fall?
In one respect, Helsinki is in a different situation from much of the rest of Finland: high school age groups are growing within the city.
The expansion of compulsory education and free secondary education, on the other hand, is suspected of attracting more young people from other parts of Helsinki. I did so because I won’t soon have to pay for my travel tickets myself for long trips.
No one knows for sure how much the attraction of the capital will grow.
“We expect some change, but I don’t think it’s dramatic,” Korhonen says.
In numbers, this enlightened guess goes that there will be about 200 more study places in the city’s high schools next fall than should be based on population growth alone.
Helsinki has made a political decision that 60 percent of the age group must have high school places. Unlike in neighboring Espoo, this percentage has not been addressed for a long time.
The city estimates that next autumn it would mean about 3,100 Helsinki high school beginners. In previous years, about 1,400 young people have come to high school from elsewhere in Helsinki.
There are about 1,850 places in private high schools and state high schools, and about 150–200 young people from Helsinki have left high school in other municipalities in previous years.
Thus, the city’s own high schools should have 2,500 places for this math, if expanding compulsory education wouldn’t change anything.
As it is estimated that it will change, there are now actually 2,700 places. They have been added a bit almost everywhere, most of all to Vuosaari and Mäkelänrinne high schools and Kielilukio.
Where from a ninth grader can then deduce what is happening to the popularity of an individual high school?
In general, the changes have been small compared to the previous year’s joint search. In that sense, those more realistic options can be listed alone or as an aid to looking at previous years.
But all the points are worth filling out precisely because there are sometimes surprises.
In neighboring Espoo, for example, the number of applicants in South Tapiola, which held an average kingdom, collapsed in 2019 and an additional search was needed. The high school was as prestigious and high-quality as before, but Otaniemi High School, which started nearby, attracted a huge number of people.
Korhonen says that the nationally rough rule is still this: the most coveted high schools are in the center, less coveted on the outskirts.
“But it doesn’t go so straightforward in Helsinki that you could draw a circle on the harp with Senate Square as the center. There are regional centers here and good public transport connections are impressive, ”says Korhonen.
So looking at a wider area can help, even if you look at the city limits.
It is also common for a high school to grow in popularity when it gets new facilities or an extensive renovation is completed.
Next autumn, such are the Vuosaari and Mäkelänrinne high schools.
On the other hand, in Helsinki, this is part of a long chain of construction sites. Alppila and Ressu high schools and Medialukio have been recently renovated. In the next few years, the renovation of Etu-Töölö and Kallio upper secondary schools and the new premises of Kielilukio and Natural Science High School will be completed.
Is then their own access opportunities still possible otherwise improve than raising their average?
There are opportunities, but not easy and sure ones.
Helsinki has a huge number of special high schools or lines compared to the rest of Finland. In them, some of the points come from entrance exams, preliminary assignments or hobbies.
Korhonen says that the large number of applicants in special high schools includes both those with a high average and those who are more deeply interested in that special field. And, of course, those who have both.
“Competition is hard. But someone gets in with the talent and hobby of that specialty, ”Korhonen estimates.
Then there is an even more specialized way forward: a long foreign language that is anything other than English.
However, the rare language started in primary school improves its chances directly in only one classic case: the Finnish joint school in Helsinki required a staggering average of 9.85 for the A-English line last year, while in long Russia, for example, 8.08 was enough. Otherwise, there is a way for language schools to have entrance exams as well.
Languages other than English are studied in Helsinki as a long language, far more than in any other country. But here, too, English has clearly taken over the field from others in recent years.
The increased desire for internationality is also being taken into account in the supply of places. For example, in a language high school, starting places have been transferred from another high school line to a line that is partly studied in English.
What about then, if a place in a joint search doesn’t open for anything and specifically high school would be a dream come true?
In the sense that the new extended compulsory education in Helsinki does not change anything, that the education guarantee has already been implemented here earlier. For years, everyone who has finished primary school has been able to offer a place to study.
“If things go wrong, connect immediately to your own opo. And at that point, it is worth looking at a wider geographical area than Helsinki, ”Korhonen advises.
However, no longer along the main roads there either. For example, in Järvenpää, the city’s only high school average limit was 8.83 last year, well above the requirements of many Helsinki high schools.
On the other hand, the average of those who started in high school in Helsinki in the autumn was not even seven, but started at five. In the additional search after the joint search, there is still a chance for something, even though there are only individual places here and there in the division.
There are 54 places in Helsinki for upper secondary school education, especially for foreign-speaking young people. For a long time, as many newcomers to the age group have been admitted to the traditional ten-year classes, ie to the additional education of primary school in Helsinki.
In addition, in vocational education, it is now possible to take individual high school courses, even if you do not want to take an actual double degree.
Students of Hiidenkivi Primary School Michaela Aaltonen (left), Nella Salonen, Sami Sten and Oiva Lahti all want to go to high school, but they are only thinking about their choices in more detail.
Ninth graders: The epidemic makes it difficult to choose
“A little stress,” says a ninth-grader Nella Salonenwhen asked about a future joint search.
He knows what he wants: a line of fine art. In the spring, therefore, there will probably be preliminary assignments and an entrance exam. Prolonging the school trip for this reason does not hurt.
Salonen and other ninth graders of Tapanila Hiidenkivi Primary School Michaela Aaltonen, Sami Sten and Oiva Lahti say that closing a place of study at the time of the epidemic is difficult in that the differences between high schools are difficult to discern. You can’t go to high schools on the spot, in the introductory videos made for elementary school students, everyone looks the same.
The quartet still thinks it outlines what its own average is enough for. They consider their chances to be good. They are now the first age group to be covered by the extension of compulsory education, so they are forced to apply.
All four want high school, but a more specific list still needs to be considered. Sten is thinking about the natural science line as one option, Aaltonen and Lahti say that the general line is the best in high school.
Free second degree is a worthwhile and good thing of all four.
“It’s nice that it’s happening to us. But I don’t think it will affect the decision I make, ”Sten thinks.
“I don’t want to travel an hour an hour in their direction. I want time for the rest, ”says Aaltonen. But if you have to travel, then maybe in the direction of Helsinki city center rather than further afield.
Sten and Lahti say that forty minutes is quite a lot. In the northeast corner of Helsinki at that time, in addition to the hometown, Vantaa would also have time. It is reported that it is quite possible that Tikkurila High School will be added as someone’s joint application.
“I’ve been thinking about that, too. But Helsinki spends more euros per high school student than Vantaa. I wonder how it will work, ”says Lahti.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/school-changes-will-it-be-even-more-difficult-to-get-to-helsinkis-desired-high-schools-soon-hs-investigated-how-free-secondary-is-projected-to-affect-averages/
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