How Finnish schools communicate with parents: Wilma and beyond
In Finland, almost every comprehensive school runs on a single system called Wilma. Outside Finland, schools following the same pedagogy rely on other tools to keep the same close, everyday contact between teachers and families.
- Wilma is a school information and communication system originally built by the Finnish company StarSoft, now owned by Visma.
- It is used across the great majority of Finland's comprehensive schools, covering messaging, absences, homework and assessments in one place.
- Wilma is tied to Finnish municipal education administration, so it is not typically deployed by schools outside Finland.
- Finnish-curriculum schools abroad, OPPI-affiliated schools included, generally use a locally appropriate app or platform alongside regular teacher updates.
- The habit that matters, frequent and practical contact between home and school, carries over even when the tool itself changes.
What Wilma actually is
Wilma is a school information and communication system built by the Finnish company StarSoft and owned by Visma since 2016. It functions as the everyday link between teachers, pupils and guardians across the great majority of Finland's comprehensive schools, the stage that covers primary and lower secondary education.
For a K to 5 family in Finland, Wilma is simply where the ordinary business of school life happens online.
- Messaging between teachers and guardians
- Recording and explaining pupil absences
- Homework and lesson notes
- Assessments and, at the appropriate ages, grades
- General notices from the class teacher or school
Why Wilma stays in Finland
Wilma is built around how Finnish municipalities run their comprehensive schools, including local pupil records and education administration. It is designed for the Finnish system rather than sold as a general international product, which is why schools following Finnish pedagogy outside Finland do not typically run Wilma itself.
This is worth stating plainly, because families researching Finnish-curriculum schools abroad sometimes assume Wilma travels with the pedagogy. It does not. What does travel is the underlying habit behind it: frequent, practical, low friction contact between home and school, built on trust rather than formality, as described in the role parents play in Finnish education.
How Finnish-curriculum schools abroad keep the same rhythm
Outside Finland, schools that follow a Finnish-inspired programme, OPPI-affiliated schools among them, generally choose whichever communication tools suit their own country and families rather than importing a Finland-only system. In practice this usually means a school app or messaging platform for quick updates and absence notices, combined with regular written updates from the class teacher and periodic newsletters.
The exact mix varies from school to school and country to country, and may also include class parent groups on a chat app such as WhatsApp for informal, day to day coordination. What tends to stay constant is the intention carried over from Finland: parents should not have to wait for a formal report card or scheduled conference to know how their child is getting on.
What to ask when you are choosing a school
Because there is no single international equivalent to Wilma, it is reasonable to ask a prospective school directly how it communicates day to day, especially for younger children in the K to 5 years, where quick and reassuring contact matters most.
- Which app or platform the school uses for everyday messages and absence reporting
- How often teachers share updates on learning, not only on behaviour or logistics
- Whether class level updates go through a group chat, a newsletter, or both
- How the school handles more sensitive or individual conversations, and how quickly parents can expect a reply
The tool changes from country to country. The habit, close and frequent contact between teacher and home, is what carries over from Finland.
Frequently asked questions
Does OPPI use Wilma?
No. Wilma is a Finland-specific system tied to Finnish municipal education administration, so it is not typically used by schools outside Finland. OPPI-affiliated schools typically combine regular teacher updates with a school app or messaging platform suited to their own country and families.
What is Wilma actually used for in Finland?
In Finnish comprehensive schools, Wilma is used for messaging between teachers and guardians, recording pupil absences, sharing homework and lesson notes, and giving access to assessments and grades, all within one system.
If a Finnish-curriculum school abroad does not use Wilma, is communication less frequent?
Not necessarily. The tool differs by country, but Finnish-inspired schools generally aim to keep the same underlying habit as schools in Finland: frequent and practical contact rather than communication limited to formal report periods.
Who built Wilma, and is it still in use?
Wilma was originally built by the Finnish company StarSoft and has been owned by Visma since 2016. It remains in wide use across Finnish comprehensive schools today.
Related reading
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