The organisation of the academic year in Finland is as follows:

In Finland, ECEC is provided in early education centres and family daycare premises, or as open ECEC services. Open ECEC services usually refer to activities organised by a municipality or the private or third sector, including club and play activities, playground activities and open ECEC centres. The goals of the ECEC Act and the national core curriculum guide all three forms of ECEC.

ECEC is provided by municipalities and private service providers. Parishes and various organisations and communities play an important role in providing open ECEC services.

Objectives and accessibility

The two main forms of ECEC in Finland are centre-based ECEC and family daycare. Same authorities, legislation and national core curriculum steer both forms of ECEC. Also the funding model and fees are the same.

The forms differ, however, in terms of their learning environments, qualification requirements for personnel, personnel structures, group sizes as well as the children to personnel ratio. Family day care is provided in the family daycare childminder’s own home or in a premise designated by the municipality. 

Steering documents

ECEC

A renewed legislation in ECEC

The principal steering documents in ECEC are:

Admission requirements and choice of settings

ECEC

Municipalities must ensure that all children who need ECEC are assigned a place within 4 months of applying. In urgent cases where it was not possible to foresee the need in advance, a place must be assigned within two weeks of applying. Due to capacity constraints, the place can be assigned in another setting than the one that the parents applied for.

Place guarantee to ECEC

ECEC

All children under school-age have a right to publicly subsidised early childhood education and care if their parents so decide. The universal entitlement to full time ECEC starts after the end of parental leave period when the child is usually 9 or 10 months old. In practice, most children start later (from around age 2) because parents are entitled to a child home care leave and allowance until the youngest child in the family turns three. Home care allowance is also paid for older siblings if they are cared for at home

Organisational variations and alternative structures for general upper secondary education