Education in Kokkola

There are municipal day care centres, family day care centres, family day care providers and children’s clubs in Kokkola. In addition, there are outsourced day-care centres, a private day care centre and private family day care providers in Kokkola.

You can apply for an early childhood education place for your child either online using the suomi.fi service or by completing a form that is available on the city's website (an application for early childhood education).

An application must be submitted four months before you need an early childhood education place for your child. A day care place can be granted sooner, if necessary, if you get a job or place of study, for example.

You can submit an application to the early childhood education place, the Office Services for Early Childhood Education (varhaiskasvatuksen toimistopalvelut) or use the letterbox in the lower hallway of the Education Office.

You can apply for a place in a children’s club by completing an application form for early childhood education that is available on the city's website.

You can also post the applications to the following address:

Sivistyskeskus (Education Office)
Varhaiskasvatuspalvelut (Early Childhood Education Services)
Rantakatu 16, 6. krs
67100 Kokkola

Further information: Early childhood education.

The city of Kokkola offers free-of-charge pre-school education to all children from the age of 6. Pre-school education is provided for a minimum of 700 hours a year, that is, about four hours a day depending on the school schedule, by teachers who have received a pedagogical education.

Pre-school education is free of charge. If a child also requires chargeable early childhood education, it can be arranged at the same place as the pre-school education, with the exception of shift day care.

Children must be enrolled in pre-school education during January and February. Information on pre-school education is posted in the local newspaper and on the city's website. If you have not yet received a letter concerning a pre-school education place, or you are applying for a pre-school education place at another time, please contact the Office Services for Early Childhood Education tel. 040 806 5089.

Further information: Pre-school education.

In Finland, education is compulsory for all children starting at the age of 7, in other words, they must complete basic education. Compulsory education ends at the end of the school year in which a child turns 17. Parents must ensure that their children attend school.

Children must be enrolled in comprehensive school at the beginning of a year. You can find the contact information of schools and more information on enrolment on the city's website. If you have questions about basic education, you can also contact the education services of the city.

Each child and young person is entitled to go to school. If a child moves to Kokkola in the middle of a school year, he or she is entitled to start school in the middle of that school year.

A pupil who does not have adequate skills in Finnish or Swedish to study in a basic education group, will start studying in a preparatory education group for basic education either in a separate group or in a basic education class according to his or her curriculum.

In Kokkola, preparatory education groups are arranged in Hollihaka and Koivuhaka primary schools and in the Kiviniitty school for lower secondary school. The transfer to a basic education group will take place gradually depending on a pupil's individual skills.

Education in accordance with the syllabus for Finnish as a second language and literature supports a comprehensive language development. Pupils can, whenever possible, receive support for learning in their mother tongue at their school.

You can obtain more information on preparatory education for basic education for immigrants from the city's education services.

Further information: Basic education.

Education in a student's mother tongue is provided in several different languages, for example in nine languages in Kokkola during the school year 2017–2018. There must be at least four students in a group. Teaching is arranged usually at those schools that have the most students who speak the language in question. Some of the mother tongue languages are taught as remote teaching.

A student's own religion, Islam, Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity, for example, is taught depending on the number of students.

Information on education in your mother tongue and your religion is available from the education coordinator of various linguistic and cultural groups:

Telephone: 040 489 2129

Central-Ostrobothnia Vocational College provides vocational education in Kokkola, Kälviä, Kannus, Kaustinen, Perho and Pietarsaari. The Vocational College also organises preparatory education (VALMA-koulutus) for basic vocational education as well as preparatory vocational education for adult immigrants at the Central Ostrobothnia Folk High School in Kälviä.

Keski-Pohjanmaan ammattiopisto (Central Ostrobothnia Vocational College)
Hakijapalvelut
Telephone: 040 808 5010 or hakijapalvelut(at)kpedu.fi

Further information: Vocational education and training.

The Finnish Kokkola upper secondary school and Karleby svenska gymnasium offer upper secondary school education for young people, whereas the Kokkola upper secondary school for adults offers upper secondary education for adults. You can apply to upper secondary education for young people in the spring through the joint application system for secondary education. You can be admitted on the basis of your grade point average for theoretical subjects studied during your basic education. You can apply to upper secondary education for adults throughout the year, by applying directly to an upper secondary school for adults.

The Finnish Kokkola upper secondary school also offers preparatory education for upper secondary school for immigrants in Kokkola. Preparatory education for upper secondary school takes one school year to complete and its purpose is to improve the possibility for foreign students to succeed in their upper secondary school studies. A separate decision on deploying the education is made yearly.

A personal curriculum is prepared for each student. You can apply for preparatory education for upper secondary school through the application process for preparatory education after completing your basic education, through the Opintopolku.fi website during the summer.

Education is provided in Finnish in the Finnish Kokkola upper secondary school and Kokkola upper secondary school for adults and in Swedish in the Karleby svenska gymnasium. Finnish as a second language education is organised for immigrants in the Finnish Kokkola upper secondary school .The objective is for immigrants to be able to progress through their upper secondary school studies and apply for further studies after graduation.

You can ask for more information on upper secondary schools and preparatory education for an upper secondary school from the city's education services. The contact information for upper secondary schools is available on the website of the city's education services.

Education Office (Sivistyskeskus)
Rantakatu 16 (5th and 6th floor)
67100 Kokkola
Telephone: 044 756 7673

Further information: Upper secondary school.

Young people who do not have a student place in education or a job can receive support from outreach youth work. The outreach youth work helps young people at the age of 15–28 to find suitable services to support their studies, work and livelihood. Outreach youth workers help in coping with life situations, handling practical issues, such as taking care of official matters at an office, and provide personal guidance according to a young person's wishes.

Email: etsivatyo(at)kokkola.fi

At the Centria University of Applied Sciences, you can complete a degree programme in the fields of technology, business, social services and health care. It is also possible to complete the degrees programmes in music and humanities. It is also possible to complete studies at the Open University of Applied Sciences.

At the Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius, you can complete both a master's degree and a doctorate. Adult education is also provided at Chydenius, and it is a place of scientific research.

Further information: Universities of applied sciences, Universities.

Kokkola Region College is a bilingual (Finnish and Swedish) adult education centre owned and maintained by the city of Kokkola. At the college, you can study computer science, music, physical education, dance, art, manual skills, cookery and first aid. You can also study various languages there, such as: Finnish, Swedish, English, German, French, Russian, Spanish, and Italian. Education selection varies from one year to the next so it is recommended to check the courses from the college's online service.

Immigrants receive a discount on the price of certain courses. If a course is applicable to a discount it is mentioned in the course information. Please check the current education selection from the college's online service.

Kokkolan seudun opisto (Kokkola Region College)
Vaasantie 7
67100 Kokkola
Telephone: 040 8065 169, 040 8065 168
Email: kso(at)kokkola.fi

In the Summer University of Central Ostrobothnia, you can complete university level open university courses, vocational continuing education and courses on languages and culture. In the summer, it is possible to repeat upper secondary school studies at the Summer University. In addition, regular upper secondary school courses can also be completed at the summer upper secondary school of the Summer University.

Courses at the Summer University are subject to a charge for students.

Further information: Studying as a hobby, Labour market training