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This study examines the association between teacher–child interaction quality and children's self‐regulation in Finnish and Portuguese toddler classrooms. The participants included 230 Finnish (M = 29; SD = 3 months) and 283 Portuguese (M = 30, SD = 4 months) toddlers and their teachers (n = 43 Finland; n = 29 Portugal). The children's behavioural self‐regulation (attention, working memory, and inhibition control) was individually tested, and the teachers evaluated the children's self‐regulation skills in the classroom. The quality of the teacher–child interactions (i.e., emotional and behavioural support and engaged support for learning) was evaluated using the CLASS‐Toddler observation instrument. The analyses were conducted with path models using a complex option. The results for Finland show that the engaged support for learning was positively associated with children's attention and inhibitory control, and emotional and behavioural support was positively associated with children's inhibitory control. For Portugal, engaged support for learning was positively associated with children's attention. The results aid in recognizing the characteristics of teacher support that is beneficial to the development of children's self‐regulation skills in two sociocultural contexts, hence being of relevance for teacher in‐ and pre‐service training.

This study examines the direct and indirect effects of home numeracy and literacy environment, and parental factors (parental reading and math difficulties, and parental education) on the development of several early numeracy and literacy skills. The 265 participating Finnish children were assessed four times between ages 2.5 and 6.5. Children’s skills in counting objects, number production, number sequence knowledge, number symbol knowledge, number naming, vocabulary, print knowledge, and letter knowledge were assessed individually. Parents (N = 202) reported on their education level, learning difficulties in math and reading (familial risk, FR), and home learning environment separately for numeracy (HNE) and literacy (HLE) while their children were 2.5 years old and again while they were 5.5 years old. The results revealed both within-domain and cross-domain associations. Parents’ mathematical difficulties (MD) and reading difficulties (RD) and home numeracy environment predicted children’s numeracy and literacy skill development within and across domains. An evocative effect was found as well; children’s skills in counting, number sequence knowledge, number symbol identification, and letter knowledge negatively predicted later home numeracy and literacy activities. There were no significant indirect effects from parents’ RD, MD, or educational level on children’s skills via HLE or HNE. Our study highlights that parental RD and MD, parental education, and the home learning environment form a complex pattern of associations with children’s numeracy and literacy skills starting already in toddlerhood.

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In Finland, Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) includes day care arrangements offered to families (care) along with goal-oriented early childhood education (early education and teaching) provided for children prior to transitioning to primary education. ECEC is therefore seen to build a coherent starting phase within the continuum of lifelong learning. ECEC follows the “educare” principle, which emphasizes the simultaneous consideration for children’s education, teaching, and care as the foundation of pedagogical activity, which is at the same time strongly rooted in the idea of learning and development as a holistic experience. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the Finnish ECEC system, introduce its societal, organizational and curricular preconditions and discuss the current tensions and challenges faced.

This study examined the extent to which the quality of teacher-child interactions assessed in kindergarten (6-year-olds) is associated with children's reading and math development across the elementary school years. The sample consisted of 515 Finnish children (271 boys, 244 girls). Teacher-child interactions were observed in 49 kindergarten classrooms. The findings from the latent growth curve models showed that high-quality teacher-child interactions in kindergarten were positively associated with the initial levels of reading and math skills. Furthermore, the results indicated that high-quality teacher-child interactions in kindergarten were positively associated with children's academic skills four years later. The results emphasize the importance of strong emotional, organizational, and instructional supports in kindergarten for further development of academic skills.

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