Study on reading skills in the second grade (2024-2025)

The study involves 34 City of Helsinki schools that receive needs-based funding. The purpose of this additional funding is to level out differences between schools within the city.

From the second-grade classes in these schools, pilot and comparison classes have been randomly selected for the study. The pilot classes will have an additional teacher in addition to their class teacher during their Finnish language lessons. The additional teacher is either a qualified special needs teacher or a Finnish as a second language (S2) teacher. In the comparison classes, Finnish language teaching will continue as usual.

In the study, pupils will participate in skills assessments in the autumn and spring terms of the second grade and the autumn term of the third grade. The assessment includes tasks related to reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils will complete the assessment online, and it will take two lessons. Additionally, the class teacher will evaluate pupils’ social and emotional skills as well as their working skills.

Based on the responses, researchers will evaluate the impact of different operating models on the development of pupils’ reading skills. The study is being conducted as a collaboration between the City of Helsinki’s Education Division, Aalto University, the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Turku.

More information about the study: tp.tutkimus@helsinki.fi.

Information letter for guardians