Today I got to visit the Helsinki Praktikum school. It is here that students who do not wish to do grade 10, 11, and 12, can go to get technical training.  It is the only Swedish speaking praktikum school and offers automotive and electrical. If students want to pursue carpentry, machining, or welding they would need to attend one of the Finnish speaking schools. The schools auto shop was very impressive. It had many different lifts for the vehicles and was clean and organised. The students begin studying here at the age of 16 and continue for three years graduating directly into the work force. Compared to the auto shops in Canadian high schools it is very large however because it is a Swedish speaking school it is quite small compared to the other technical schools. The teacher told me that the Finnish schools facilities are 5 times bigger than his shop and as you can see form the photos below 5 times bigger is massive. The Swedish school has around 20 students in each level. There are mainly male students however there are 6 female students and the teacher says this number is increasing steadily over the years.  The school runs similar to  a Canadian high school auto shop having customers bring in their cars and get them worked on for less than at a mechanic. This gives the students hands on and real experience for what they will encounter in the field.