Socio-emotional education has been given very little attention in Finland, either on the general level or within specific subjects. To examine the empathy level of Helsinki students and the influence of an empathy campaign on the development of empathy, 665 students, aged 11 to 18, (49 percent female, 51 percent male) were exposed to an empathy campaign. The campaign was presented according to various intensity levels from the mildest level, which consisted of a symbolic poster on the wall and a morning ceremony, to the most intensive level, which consisted of a week-long theme program planned by students and teachers. A control group consisting of 92 students received no empathy campaign. The Mehrabian-Epstein Scale on emotional empathy and teacher and peer ratings of prosocial behavior were used as pre- and post-test measures of campaign effectiveness. An analysis of the results showed that empathy can be increased through school campaigns when the campaign is intensive, and when the students take part in the planning and organizing. Overall, girls were significantly more empathetic than boys. However, the emotional receptiveness of the test group boys increased during the campaign significantly more than other boys or girls in the control group. Positive changes were greatest in the lower grade students of the test group. The most even development of empathy took place in the group which had the most intensive campaign. (BL)