Taitaja9 / Local qualifiers and regional semi-finals
Taitaja9 consists of three stages. The first is to compete in local qualifiers. More than one team from the same school can participate in the local qualifiers. Each team must contain three people. A team may have pupils from different classes and grades, but the team members must be from the same school and from grades 7–9.
The competition highlights knowledge of different areas of vocational education and training in a fun and convenient way. The competition tasks are from different fields of study, offering participants the opportunity to get acquainted with different occupations and training programmes.
Depending on the locality, local qualifiers are done either as a virtual game in the form of the Taitaja9 game or as a live competition. Approximately 80 local qualifiers are organised every year and some 2,200 upper comprehensive school pupils from all over Finland participate in them.
After the local qualifiers, the regional semi-finals will be held, and the 12 best teams in the region, in proportion to the number of participants in the local qualifiers, will continue to the national finals. The regional semi-finals are intended to take place as a competition track. The regional semi-finals are held between December and February, but no later than three months before the Taitaja finals.
The best of the regional semi-finals will continue to the Taitaja9 finals organised in spring 2024 in connection with the national Taitaja event. The two-day finals will be held on 21-22 May 2024 in Kuopio.