Support for learning and school attendance in basic education

Learning support starts at school when a student's need for support is identified. The support is planned in collaboration with the student, guardians and adults at the school. Guardians are kept informed about the type of support the student is receiving and how it affects school attendance.

A student can get:

• support in connection with teaching in their own classroom
• support from a school counselor or other support person during the school day
• teaching partly or entirely in small groups
• individual guidance from a special education teacher

The aim of the support is to enable the student to participate in education according to their own conditions and progress towards the goals of basic education in a familiar and safe school community.

Contact your child's teacher or other school experts if you have concerns about your child's learning and school attendance. If necessary, we will arrange a consultation to jointly identify the child's support needs and plan the necessary forms of support.

All students have the right to group-specific forms of support, which are based on planning and anticipation. The goal is that the student receives support for their learning as early as possible and with a low threshold. Group-specific forms of support are:

• general support teaching, which responds to support needs and difficulties identified early at the group level
• remedial teaching in the language of instruction, which is the right of a student who does not have sufficient knowledge of the language of instruction to complete the required curriculum
• Teaching given by a special needs teacher in connection with other teaching, which takes into account the needs of the entire teaching group.

If the group-specific forms of support intended for all students are not sufficient, the student is offered individual support measures. They are regular and based on individual support needs. Student-specific support measures in basic education are:

• Special education teacher teaching partly in small groups in connection with other teaching
• teaching by a special education teacher or special class teacher in a small group
• special education teacher teaching in a special education class
• student-specific interpretation and assistance services.

Partially small-group special education means that the student is in a regular class, but in some subjects, he or she studies partially in a small group with a special education teacher.

Teaching in a small group by a special education teacher or special class teacher means that a student receives more than half of the instruction in one or more subjects in a small group taught by a special education teacher or special class teacher. The student studies other subjects in a regular group.

Special education refers to full-time education in a special class covering all subjects or areas of activity. However, the student may participate in some subjects in general education, if possible.

Student-specific interpretation and assistance services are support services that enable students to participate in education in general and help them achieve the goals set out in the curriculum. They are only considered in situations where other means are not sufficient.

Hollola uses various tests to assess the need for support:

LukiMat The tools for identifying the need for support are part of the Learning Assessment materials of the LukiMat service. The tools have been prepared to identify the need for mathematics and reading and writing support in preschool and primary education.

Makeko: The digital MaKeKo exams are divided into subject groups according to the content areas of mathematics. With tests, the teacher can identify gaps in students' understanding of mathematical concepts and provide timely support. The MaKeKo exams have been prepared for each grade level in basic education. For example, test 6/7 covers the core subject of the 6th grade and is designed to be given at the end of the 6th grade or as a baseline test at the beginning of the 7th grade.

Let me read: Reading fluency: intended for pedagogical assessment and support of reading fluency in Finnish in grades 1–6 of elementary school. Students read the text aloud to the teacher. The result of reading fluency is reported in correctly read words per minute. The output corresponds to the standardized grades based on the results of 2054 students.

I learned: Dictation: Opinpa is intended for assessment of Finnish spelling skills for grades 1-6. Dictation is used to assess how well students know the spelling content defined in the curriculum.

Allu: Reading comprehension: The standardized reading comprehension group test has reading comprehension tasks intended for grades 1-6. The reading comprehension subtests examine both literal and interpretive understanding of information. The texts are narrative and informative texts.

Word chain test: The word chain test measures technical literacy, i.e. word recognition. The word chain test consists of four subtests. The difficulty level of the subtests corresponds to the September-October skill level of each class in reading. For this reason, it would be advisable to carry out the testing between September and October. The test separates students who may need special support from the rest of the student population.

Digital reading screen: DigiLukiseula is a screening test intended for the evaluation of basic reading and spelling skills and reading comprehension of 7th and 8th graders.

Ykä: The YKÄ evaluation method includes both group and individual tasks for evaluating reading and writing skills and identifying problems with reading and writing skills in middle school.