Early Childhood Education and Care in Finland Janniina Elo Project coordinator, PhD Student University of Tampere

26/August/2013 ECEC in Finland every child’s subjective right = Access to child care and kindergarten is for every child Every child has a subjective right to early education regardless parents’ employmement and economic situation. Early Childhood Educaiton in Asia and Finland

Client Fees in ECE Are based on the size and income of the family Max. fee 250 €/ child/month Free of charge for low income families Client fees cover about 15 % of child care costs

Child - adult ratios in ECE * 1 adult to 7 children for 3-6 year old children in child care centres. * 1 to 4 children for children under 3 years * 1 to 13 children in part-time kindergarten * 1 to 4 in family day care

Teachers’ qualifications: In child care: Teachers have either Bachelor’s degree (3 yrs) from the university or degree from polytechnical school (3 yrs) The other staff is required to have at least a secondary level degree in education In kindergarten / pre-primary: Bachelor’s or Master degree Primary school teacher Master’s Degree (5 yrs)

NATIONAL CURRICULUM GUIDELINES ON EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE IN FINLAND The National Curriculum Guidelines serves as a basis for local - municipal - curricula and for the curricula implemented in the child care centres and other forms of ECEC, such as family day care. Aims to promote the provision and the quality of ECEC on equal terms throughout the country Steers the planning, development, and the evaluation of the content of the activities

Pedagogy in practice Parents and teachers in co-operation draw up an educational plan for every single child according to child’s needs, interests and his developmental challenges Teacher supports and supervises child’s learning and individual development in a child care group ”In ECEC, it is important to underline the intrinsic value of childhood, to foster childhood, and to help the child to develop as a human being.”

Finnish ECEC is based on: Teacher’s pedagogical awareness Parent teacher partnership Joy of learning connected to children’s everyday life Children as meaning makers Child-centered pedagogy Play & peer interaction Leadership and quality assessment ”Children play for the sake of playing, and at best, play can give them deep satisfaction. Although children do not play in order to learn, they learn through play.”

Evaluating the Quality of the Child Care in Finland What parents and teachers emphasize in ECEC? (Hujala, Fonsén, & Elo 2012)

Assessments by quality factors 26/August/2013 Assessments by quality factors The premises of the child care quality evaluation lie on the level of service, and especially on its adequacy and availability. ECEC is based on the structural factor, which is also the fundamental quality. The operational quality is regulated by the intermediate and process factors, and the curriculum content and the pedagogy of learning. The process factor represents the actual “education and care” process. The customer perspective can be detected by examining the effect factor. Early Childhood Educaiton in Asia and Finland

Thank you for your interest! Janniina.elo@uta.fi 26/August/2013 Thank you for your interest! Janniina.elo@uta.fi Early Childhood Educaiton in Asia and Finland