Search results for "education and care"
showing 10 items of 54 documents
Rationalising public support for private early childhood education and care: the case of Finland
2019
In Finland, early childhood education and care (ECEC) is traditionally publicly provided. However, private ECEC provision has increased during the past decade, largely as a result of financial support from the public sector. Drawing on qualitative interviews with municipal decision-makers, this article identifies three frames within which publicly subsidised private ECEC provision and marketisation are rationalised: the pragmatic frame, the government frame and the choice frame. The results show that even though market logics and tendencies seem to have gained a strong foothold in local policies, there is a keen interest in universalism and maintaining public control over local ECEC provisi…
Language-aware operational culture : Developing in-service training for early childhood education and care
2020
This study examines how practitioners of minority-medium Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Finland reflect on language awareness (LA) in their professional learning communities (PLCs). The study is conducted within in-service training for ECEC practitioners and it also highlights how these practitioner reflections can be of use and support developing future in-service training within the action research framework. The data include nine group discussions on a reflection task, with 41 primary participants and 165 secondary participants from each primary participant’s respective PLC. As a starting point, the researchertrainers identified six language-policy themes on LA in national …
Pedagogy-related tensions in flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care
2020
In flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care (ECEC), the timing of care depends on parents’ non-standard working hours. Multiple individual schedules and care times in a child group may cause irregularity in a child’s daily structures, and a child may miss a standard hour’s activities that are led by teachers with a pedagogical education. In this context, the significance and definition of pedagogy is vague and tensional. This study aimed at disclosing discursive tensions related to pedagogy in flexibly scheduled ECEC constructed in interviews by Finnish teachers and childcare nurses (n = 31). The analysis of the interview data followed the principles of discursive psychology. C…
Akateemisen varhaiskasvatuksen muotoutuminen
2001
Tässä tutkimuksessa rajaudutaan tarkastelemaan varhaiskasvatusta tieteenalan perspektiivistä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan akateemisen kentän muotoutumista ja varhaiskasvatuksen sisällöllistä määrittymistä. Aineistona ovat Suomen varhaiskasvatuksen professoreiden virantäyttöprosesseissa tuotetut dokumentit. Tutkimuksemme painottuu erityisesti akateemisen kentän keskeisten toimijoiden - asiantuntijoiden ja viranhakijoiden - identifioimiseen. Työmme kohdentuu lähihistoriaan ja sitä voidaan luonnehtia akateemisen varhaiskasvatuksen kentän historiaa ja muotoutumista koskevaksi perustutkimukseksi. Aineistolähtöinen sisällönanalyysi osoittaa, etteivät asiantuntijalausunnot juurikaan tuo yllätyksiä…
Privilege or tragedy? : Educators’ accounts of flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care
2017
This article explores accounts given by Finnish educators ( n = 31) on the topic of flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care (i.e. childcare provided during non-standard as well as standard hours). Previous research has shown this to be a sensitive topic because of the contradiction between what is deemed in the interests of children and the fact of providing childcare during non-standard hours. The research follows the principles of discursive psychology. Educators’ accounts were labelled as excusing, compensating, normalising and justifying. Accounts categorised as excusing and compensating shared concern over the effects of childcare during non-standard hours on children’s w…
The early childhood education and care partnership for bilingualism in minority language schooling : collaboration between bilingual families and ped…
2016
Educational partnerships occur at the intersection of early childhood education and care (ECEC), families, and the surrounding community, and have been shown to play a significant role in student success rates in education. There is, however, a gap in research on the role and potential of ‘partnership’ in the case of bilingual families with children enrolled in monolingual minority language ECEC. This study aimed to fill this void by examining parental and practitioner discourses on partnership and on obligations, desires, abilities, and competencies involved in acting on a bilingual childhood in the context of monolingual minority ECEC. Parents in nine Finnish–Swedish bilingual families an…
Socioeconomic and attitudinal differences between service users of private and public early childhood education and care in the Finnish context
2023
The marketisation and privatisation of welfare services such as early childhood education and care (ECEC) have been a global trend in recent decades. Earlier research suggests that market-based ECEC provision often leads to inequalities and stratification of service users. In Finland, as in other Nordic countries where provision of ECEC has traditionally been a public responsibility, ECEC services have also been undergoing marketisation and privatisation. Until now, especially in Finland, little has been known about service users of public and private ECEC or parental decisions between public and private ECEC. This study addresses that gap by showing that the clientele of private and public…
Miten lastenhoidon ratkaisuja saa perustella? : vanhempien puhetta 1-2-vuotiaan lapsensa hoitoratkaisuista
2018
Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, miten vanhemmat jäsentävät ja perustelevat alle kaksivuotiaan lapsensa hoitoratkaisuja. Vanhempien haastatteluista tunnistettiin kolme puhetapaa, jotka tarjoavat toisistaan eroavan näkökulman lapsen hoitoratkaisun perusteluksi. Vanhempien tapa käyttää näitä diskursseja – ”vanhemman hyvinvointi”, ”lapsen paras” ja ”rahapuhe” – osoittaa, kuinka kulttuurisesti ja moraalisesti latautuneesta valinnasta lapsen hoitojärjestelyissä on kyse. Valintaan liittyvät pohdinta ja näkemykset siitä, mitä on hyvä vanhemmuus ja millaista hyvä lapsuus. peerReviewed
Perhepäivähoito- ja päiväkoti-instituutio varhaiskasvatuksen kunnallisten viranhaltijoiden puheessa
2022
Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin perhepäivähoito- ja päiväkoti-instituutioiden tuottamista varhaiskasvatuksesta vastaavien kunnallisten viranhaltijoiden puheessa. Tutkimus tehtiin kymmenessä suomalaisessa kunnassa, ja aineistona käytettiin teemahaastatteluja (N =42). Perhepäivähoito ja päiväkotitoiminta ymmärrettiin diskursiivisen institutionalismin näkökulmasta sosiaalisina käytäntöinä, joiden merkitykset ilmenevät ja muuttuvat varhaiskasvatuksen instituutioiden kielenkäytössä. Aineistoa analysoitiin diskursiivisesti, ja puheesta erotettiin vaihtelevia tapoja puhua perhepäivähoidosta ia päiväkotitoiminnasta. Löydetyissä puhetavoissa perhepäivähoidolle ja päiväkotitoiminnalle tuotettiin erilaise…
Physical play - How do we inspire and motivate young children to be physically active through play? An international analysis of twelve countries’ na…
2023
Lifelong movement and physical activity (PA) patterns develop during early childhood. Therefore, educators (teachers and practitioners) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) should provide opportunities to support children’s play, PA, and movement development. The World Health Organization (2019) offers new recommendations for PA, for children under five years. The guidelines do not specify the ways ECEC staff can support PA through play. Therefore, this paper investigates, how physical play (PP) is enacted globally. An international policy and practice analysis of twelve countries, (Australia [Victoria], Belgium [Flanders], Canada [Alberta], China, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal,…