HEI High School

Bringing high-quality Finnish early education to the world

HEI Schools provides cutting-edge educational solutions for kindergartens and teachers based on Finland's famous education system. Our mission is to provide high-quality early education to as many children and families around the world as possible!

What is the HEI approach?

Every child has the right to grow and learn in a stress-free environment that brings joy and equips them with the skills they need to prosper in the future. In HEI Schools we believe in recognizing each child holistically and aim to educate socially, emotionally and academically confident, capable children.

• Child-focused approach aligned with their developmental needs
• Research-based model developed with University of Helsinki
• Inspired by Finland's national early education curriculum
• Building essential skills through play and real-life experiences

Teachers Matter

At HEI Schools, we strongly believe that teachers matter. We recognize teachers as educators and experts in their field. The curriculum is only as good as the teacher implementing it, so all teachers should be trained in research-based methods and engage in ongoing teacher professional development. Through our training, teachers become independent, creative professionals confident in their skills, capable of collaborating and building professional communities with other educators.

Our Expertise

Since our founding in 2015, we have trained hundreds of local teachers around the world to teach at our Learning Centers. The rigorous program includes sessions about Finnish early education, HEI learning areas, routines, further teacher professional development resources and more. Teachers also apply their newly learned skills by conducting HEI activities during the training.

In order to offer our expertise to even more teachers around the world, we established the HEI Schools teacher diploma program in 2020. This self-paced, 100% online program offers 10 modules of valuable content about Finnish play-based pedagogy together with practical assignments. It’s available to any early educator or parent who wants to become an expert in Finnish ECE. We have welcomed hundreds of students since the program began!

HEI Practices

At HEI Schools, we implement practices that are beneficial not only for children but also for teachers. By following children’s natural ways of learning and being, we create environments where growth and learning can flourish.

Holistic

The most important part of an early educator’s role is to establish children’s overall wellbeing. Without wellbeing, learning cannot happen, which is why we take a holistic approach to education. Teachers are trained to focus on all aspects of a child’s growth, not just their academic advancements. They learn how to consider the social, emotional, physical, mental, and intellectual development of the children in their care as well as their own wellbeing.

Play-based

Play is one of the most natural ways for children to learn. Children are internally motivated to play and research shows that motivation drives learning. Through play, children can practice real-life skills such as problem-solving, empathy and communication in a context that feels natural to them. At HEI Schools, teachers learn how to make time for play in everyday situations and utilize it as a pedagogical tool in their activities. This makes learning more enjoyable for everyone!

Strength-based

One of the key elements in the HEI Schools approach is focusing on children’s strengths instead of their challenges. This builds children’s self-confidence, and research shows that when we focus on positive things, it increases children’s satisfaction, engagement in learning, and social and collaboration skills. Our teachers also take a strength-based approach to their own and others’ professional development. Teamwork is key to delivering high-quality early education, and we share best practices to foster warm, supportive teacher communities.