Early Childhood Education and Care System in Finland

Abstract

<jats:p>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.</jats:p>

Teacher–child interaction quality and children's self‐regulation in toddler classrooms in Finland and Portugal

“…With classroom sizes up to 45 children, the large groups were further separated into two (or more) smaller functional groups, for example, two groups of 17 children with three adults. Daily practices took place in these groups, and each had their own space in the settings, making them independent groups for most of the day (e.g., Salminen, 2017).…”

“…There are substantial differences between the two countries in terms of how the ECEC is organized and how the national curriculum surrounds the teacher–child interactions with the youngest in ECEC. The Finnish ECEC model is the Nordic model of the universal provision of ECEC (see, for example, Salminen, 2017). ECEC forms the first stage of the educational system, and it is under the auspice of the Ministry of Education and Culture.…”

PeIA-5466: A Novel Peptide Antagonist Containing Non-natural Amino Acids That Selectively Targets α3β2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

“…To give one example, α-Ctx MII-sensitive nAChRs located on the terminals of SN/VTA dopamine projection neurons are thought to be mostly α6β2* nAChR. [16][17][18][19] Because of this relative simplicity, the relevance of α6β2*-nAChR in these dopaminergic projections to nicotine (and other drug) use, salience, and movement disorders has been well established using MII in both rodents and non-human primate models. [20][21][22] By contrast, α3β2* nAChR expression overlaps with that of α6β2* nAChR in VTA dopaminergic cell bodies, and the relative roles and/or importance of each subtype in VTA-driven behaviors is not known.…”

Children’s creative thinking abilities and social orientations in Finnish early childhood education and care

“…The objectives set out in the plan concern pedagogical activitiesnot the child (FNAE, 2018, p. 14). According to Salminen (2017), personnel in Finnish ECEC have a high degree of autonomy in choosing how to implement the daily pedagogy along the national core curriculum.…”