2024

The national trial for two-year pre-primary education ended, a follow-up study being prepared

The national trial for two-year pre-primary education ended in May 2024. The children participating in the trial began pre-primary education at the age of five instead of six. The main objective of the trial was to strengthen educational equality.

The trial, launched by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2021, involved more than 100 municipalities. The two-year pre-primary education programme followed a new pilot curriculum. The trial also had a strong research component. The national follow-up study conducted during the trial will be completed in 2025. 

National data on ECEC staff published for the first time

For the first time, national statistics on ECEC staff have been released through the education administration's reporting portal, Vipunen. 

The published reports allow users to explore both permanent and temporary ECEC staff by professional group, municipality, and region. The data in these reports come from Varda, ECEC resource maintained by the Finnish National Agency for Education. Varda collects information not only on staff but also on ECEC facilities, children in ECEC, their guardians, and the associated fees. From 2024 onward, details on the support provided in ECEC will also be included in Varda.

Vipunen's statistics are based on data and registers collected by Statistics Finland, the Ministry of Culture and Education and the Finnish National Agency for Education. The reports on Vipunen are mostly available in English, but the ECEC section is currently only available in the national languages. 

2023

Intake in degree programmes in ECEC to be increased

To address the shortage of personnel in Early Childhood Education and Care, the available student places in ECEC teacher education will be increased in 2024-2025. The Ministry of Education and Culture has allocated additional funds to 7 universities for this purpose.

Additionally, Prime Minister Orpo's government program (2023) outlines the increase of student places in the degree programmess of both teachers and social pedagogues in ECEC.

Client fees for early childhood education and care lowered

Families pay fees for ECEC in Finland. The fees vary between 0 – 295 € in full-day provision depending on family’s income and the size of the family.

The income thresholds on which the fees are based increased by 33% in March 2023. The purpose of lower client fees is to boost the purchasing power of families with children, and support low- and medium-income families, since living costs and electricity prices have raised.  It is expected that lower fees bring about a higher participation rate in early childhood education and care.

As a result of the change, approximately 30 000 families will be entitled to free early childhood education and care.

2022

Finland promotes and improves early childhood education provided in a hospital

Ministry of Education and Culture grants one million euros for the development of early childhood education provided in a hospital. A special state grant is intended to those municipalities and joint municipal authorities that are interested in developing ECEC for children in need of hospital care. At the present time, the provision of early childhood education for children in hospital varies between regions and it is not available in all hospitals.  

The objective of the special grant is to enable children to take part in early childhood education both during hospitalisation and the transition period when the child has returned home but participation in traditional ECEC is not yet possible for health reasons. One of the objectives is as well to promote co-operation and networking between regional and national organisations providing early childhood education in hospitals.

The special grant strengthens the possibility to participate in early childhood education for children who otherwise remain out of ECEC services due to illness or injury. Participation in ECEC activities during a hospital period would bring joy to children’s life and support children's development and learning.