TET-jakso: Finland's school work experience period
TET, short for työelämään tutustuminen, or 'getting to know working life', is a compulsory work experience entitlement for Finnish students aged 13 to 16, placing them in real workplaces for one to three weeks during lower-secondary school.
- TET periods typically run one to three weeks and take place in grade 7, 8 or 9, depending on the school.
- All ninth graders complete at least two weeks of work experience learning as part of their compulsory entitlement.
- Students usually find and apply for their own placement, then sign agreements with both the school and the employer.
- Placements are unpaid, run to roughly a six-hour working day with one mandatory break, and any costs incurred by the employer are reimbursed by the state.
How a TET placement works
Rather than a class visit or a guest speaker, TET puts a single student into a genuine workplace, a bakery, an office, a veterinary clinic, a newsroom, for a defined period. Students, often with input from a school counsellor, contact and apply to employers themselves, which makes the search itself part of the learning.
Why it fits Finnish lower-secondary pedagogy
TET is written into the national core curriculum as an entitlement for all students aged 13 to 16, which places it alongside other life-skills and working-life education that Finnish schools treat as seriously as academic subjects. It also feeds directly into the choices students make at the end of lower-secondary school, whether to continue to general upper-secondary school (lukio) or into vocational education.
- Written into the national core curriculum as a student entitlement
- Usually organised in grades 7 to 9
- Students apply for and arrange their own placement
- Feeds into upper-secondary and vocational choices
What schools outside Finland can adapt
Few countries can replicate TET's scale without similar state-backed employer arrangements, but the underlying structure, a short, real placement rather than a single career day, is something any lower-secondary school can adapt in a smaller form, working with local businesses or parent networks to place a handful of students at a time.
A week in a real workplace teaches a fourteen year old more about what a job actually involves than a term of career-day assemblies.
Frequently asked questions
What does TET stand for?
TET is short for työelämään tutustuminen, Finnish for 'getting to know working life'.
How long does a TET placement last?
Typically one to three weeks, with all ninth graders completing at least two weeks as part of their compulsory entitlement.
Are students paid during their TET placement?
No, placements are unpaid, though any costs incurred by the employer are reimbursed by the state.
How does TET connect to later school choices?
TET placements often inform whether a student continues to general upper-secondary school (lukio) or moves into vocational education after grade 9.
Related reading
Bring Finnish pedagogy to your school
OPPI affiliates a selective cohort of schools each year for its K-5 Finnish-pedagogy programme, backed by Education Finland. Tell us about your school and our team will reach out.
Backed by Education Finland. Over 20 schools have already affiliated, including DPS, Radcliffe and Sanctus. Places in each cohort are limited.
Apply to the affiliation cohort →