For education professionals

Is Helsinki your next playground?

Play is at the core of everything we do. Take a look at special needs teacher in early childhood education Yaiza's workday in Helsinki!

Päiväkodin lapsia nurmikolla — Photo: Maija Astikainen

Who are we?

The City of Helsinki is the largest employer in Finland. We have over 37,000 professionals in four divisions and the City’s central administration. Together, we provide local residents with high-quality services and build the foundation for good living in Helsinki.

Around 15,000 education professionals work within the Education Division. We work in early childhood education (age 0–5) and pre-primary education (age 5 and 6), basic education (age 7–15), and in vocational schools, general upper secondary schools, adult education centres, as well as in the division administration.

What kind of jobs do we have?

We are constantly searching for new education professionals in our Finnish and Swedish daycare centres and schools around Helsinki

Early childhood and pre-primary education teachers (varhaiskasvatuksen opettaja and esiopettaja in Finnish)
Early childhood education carers (varhaiskasvatuksen lastenhoitaja in Finnish)
Teachers in basic education (grades 1–9) and special needs education
School assistants (koulunkäynninohjaaja in Finnish)

Both permanent and fixed term contracts are available

For permanent positions, you must meet the language and qualification requirements.

Fixed term contracts may be, however, a good opportunity when you don’t meet the formal job requirements, but hold a relevant qualification from abroad. Fixed term contract can be up to a year.

Why work for us?

With the City of Helsinki, you will enjoy the benefits of a large employer and can influence what good living in Helsinki looks like.

Language and qualification requirements

Language requirements

For a permanent position in a daycare centre you need to have good Finnish or Swedish language proficiency at the time of application.

To work as a school teacher your language proficiency needs to be excellent. This is essential as most teaching and care are conducted in these local languages. We support our employees' language development by offering additional language training on the job.

Qualifications for working in daycare centres

To work at a daycare centre, you need to hold either a vocational upper secondary qualification (early childhood education carer) or Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education (early childhood education teacher).

For temporary or fixed-term contracts, we also consider applicants who are currently completing their early childhood education training, as well as those with diverse work experience in early childhood education (for early childhood education teacher roles) or previous experience working with children (for early childhood education carer roles).

Qualifications for working in schools

The qualification requirement for a school assistant position is a Vocational Qualification in Instruction for School and Morning and Afternoon Activities, a Vocational Qualification for School Assistants, or another suitable qualification.

For temporary teaching and school assistant roles, suitable applicants without formal qualifications can be considered.

You can find more information about eligibility for teaching positions on the Finnish National Agency for Education's website(Link leads to external service).

Recognition of overseas qualifications

To be considered for a permanent job as a teacher or an early childhood education teacher, the candidate must -by law- have at least Bachelors’Degree in Education. A foreign qualification must be recognised by the Finnish National Agency of Education(Link leads to external service) (Opetushallitus, OPH). It is, however, possible to work in a fixed term contract without OPH recognition certificate.

Flexible work through workforce leasing company

Temporary work is also available through our partner, workforce leasing company Seure.

Language courses

Start learning Finnish or Swedish by finding a suitable language course for your needs:

How to apply?

Learn more about registering as a job seeker in Finland(Link leads to external service) and browse vacancies(Link leads to external service)in the Job Market.

Woman with binoculars in the nature — Photo: Jussi Hellsten

Work experience and professional education

Gaining work experience

If you are a customer at the TE Office (Employment and Economic Development Office), you can enquire about work trials and pay subsidies to support your employment in daycare centres or schools.

More information on TE Office's website(Link leads to external service)

Learn more about registering as a job seeker in Finland(Link leads to external service) and browse vacancies(Link leads to external service)

Professional development

A child carer with sufficient language proficiency who is working on a temporary basis at the City of Helsinki may also apply for apprenticeshi(Link leads to external service) to become qualified early childhood education carer for a permanent contract.

Private and state-owned schools and daycare centres

Helsinki has also a number of private and/or state-owned daycare centres and schools that offer education in English and other languages. In these daycare centres and schools you can teach fully in English or in an other language and the qualification requirements might vary.

Learn more: Early childhood education in different languages in Helsinki.

There are also private and state-owned schools offering education in different languages. Learn about the different school options in our guide to international families.

Girl in front of yellow background — Photo: Sara Lehtomaa

Contact us

Our recruitment team is happy to help you with questions regarding job search. Email us, we are here for you:

rekry.kasko@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program)