The Policy Brief 3:2024 by FINEEC (Finnish Education Evaluation Centre) critically examines the current state and development needs of Finland’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) system. It emphasizes that sustainable, research-based policymaking is essential for delivering high-quality ECEC and upholding children’s rights, educational equity, and well-being.

Over the past decade, Finland has undergone multiple reforms in ECEC legislation, curricula, staffing structures, and accessibility. While many of these reforms were aligned with national goals for equality and inclusion, FINEEC notes growing fragmentation, inconsistent implementation, and ongoing structural challenges, particularly concerning workforce well-being and educational continuity.

SECTION I: Structural Foundations of High-Quality ECEC

1. Qualified Workforce as the Backbone of Quality
FINEEC reiterates that a highly educated, professionally competent, and adequately sized workforce is the single most important quality factor in ECEC.

Key issues:
•Personnel shortage persists, especially among qualified teachers.
•Degree programs are aligned with workplace demands but strained by rapid expansion and insufficient permanent funding.
•The role of social pedagogues remains unclear in the ECEC structure, needing clearer job definitions and better alignment of competencies.

Recommendations:
•Secure long-term funding for teacher education.
•Increase capacity through blended learning pathways and continuing education.
•Harmonize degree programs with workplace realities, especially for new professions like social pedagogues.

2. Leadership: The Missing Link Between Policy and Practice
Leadership quality directly affects both pedagogical continuity and staff retention.

Challenges identified:
•ECEC heads face overwhelming administrative burdens and have limited time for pedagogical leadership.
•Managers now supervise multiple centres and teams, reducing contact with staff and children.
•There is a lack of national consistency in leadership training and competency standards.

Recommendations:
•Clarify and professionalize the role of ECEC leaders through targeted education in pedagogy and organizational leadership.
•Provide systematic mentoring, peer support networks, and protected time for pedagogical planning.
•Scale leadership areas reasonably to ensure quality oversight.

SECTION II: Pedagogical Quality and Child Well-being

3. Inclusion and Child Participation as a Guiding Principle

Inclusion is a statutory goal in Finnish ECEC, yet recent evaluations reveal worrying trends:
•Over one-third of children in ECEC are identified as having socio-emotional or behavioral concerns.
•Bullying and peer exclusion occur at surprisingly early ages.
•High staff turnover undermines stability, emotional safety, and trust for children.

Children participating in full-time ECEC at age 4–5 display significantly stronger competencies in both language and mathematics, and report better social skills.

Recommendations:

•Enhance professional training in social-emotional development and anti-bullying practices.
•Promote a culture of relational continuity with permanent, stable staffing.
•Build inclusive group dynamics through child-centered planning and family collaboration.

SECTION III: Access, Equity, and Social Justice

4. Expanding Participation: A National Imperative
Despite progress, Finland still lags behind the EU’s 95% ECEC participation target for children aged 4 and over.

Barriers include:
•Municipal financial incentives (e.g., home care allowances) that disincentivize participation.
•Low ECEC engagement among immigrant families and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.
•Limited awareness of ECEC’s educational value among parents, especially when services are under-resourced.

Recommendations:
•Increase outreach via multilingual service counselling and parental engagement initiatives.
•Reform financial incentives to avoid undermining children’s subjective right to ECEC.
•Maintain staffing ratios and small group sizes, which directly influence parental trust.

SECTION IV: Family Partnerships as a Cornerstone of Quality

5. Cooperation with Families Builds Educational Continuity
ECEC is most effective when built on mutual trust and active cooperation with families. Finnish ECEC legislation mandates such cooperation, especially through individual ECEC plans for each child.

Key insights:
Parents value consistent and emotionally present staff.
Time constraints often limit daily dialogue and trust-building.
Where properly implemented, individual child plans promote tailored pedagogy and strengthen home-centre collaboration.

Recommendations:
Allocate protected time for staff-parent discussions.
Institutionalize tools for family participation (e.g., joint rule-making, early support planning).
Foster continuity in teacher-child-family relationships to support smooth transitions to school.

CONCLUSION: ECEC as a Long-Term Social Investment

ECEC is not only a childcare solution—it is a strategic investment in national equity, well-being, and human capital. Evidence from longitudinal studies in Finland shows that early, full-time ECEC participation correlates with improved school performance, particularly for children with early learning support needs.

FINEEC emphasizes:
•The comprehensive school system cannot compensate for poor early childhood experiences.
•ECEC must be understood as the first step in the education continuum, not a separate social service.
•Policies must be child-centered, inclusive, and informed by long-term, cross-sectoral impact assessments.

Final Recommendations from FINEEC
Secure long-term, predictable resources for ECEC teacher training and service provision.
Enhance ECEC leadership, making it a respected, well-supported profession.
Promote inclusion and socio-emotional learning through staff development and anti-bullying initiatives.
Eliminate access barriers for disadvantaged families and protect children’s legal right to early education.
Empower family participation with time, structure, and communication tools.

About FINEEC
The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC) is Finland’s national authority for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of education. It conducts independent evaluations across all levels of the Finnish education system, from early childhood to higher education, and produces data to inform policy decisions and institutional development.