“The trial for two-year pre-primary education was unique: it involved more than 100 municipalities of different sizes, and a total of 10,000 children took part in the two-year pre-primary education programme nationally. Helsinki’s participation in this trial means a great deal. We were able to bring up a major city’s experiences with not only the good sides of two-year pre-primary education, but also its challenges,” says Head of Early Childhood Education Miia Kemppi.
Follow-up study to yield valuable information about the impact of attending pre-primary education
The two-year pre-primary education trial had a specific curriculum developed for it. The local pilot curriculum in Helsinki emphasises the importance of play, exploration, creativity and a community culture in learning. This way, the two-year pre-primary trial has incorporated the ways of learning, doing and getting excited that are specific to early childhood education and that are natural to children.
The objective of the trial was to strengthen equality in education. In Helsinki, most children attend pre-primary education. Furthermore, Helsinki has been providing four hours of free-of-charge early childhood education per day for five-year-old children for several years now. However, in the trial, children who had not been in early childhood education before began attending two-year pre-primary education as well. “This was important to us, as increasing the attendance rate of early childhood education is also one of our strategic objectives. The follow-up study conducted during the trial will give us more important information about the impact of attending early childhood education and pre-primary education on children’s growth and development,” explains Head of Division Satu Järvenkallas.
The national follow-up study conducted during the trial will be completed in 2025. The study focuses on how children’s social skills and self-esteem develop as a result of participating in the trial, as well as the potential strengthening of their mathematical and linguistic capabilities. Data collection for the study has also continued in primary school grades 1–6
Lessons learned from the trial for two-year pre-primary education
“At this point, we don’t know how two-year pre-primary education will continue. However, the trial yielded good practices that daycare centres can go ahead and continue to apply despite the two-year pre-primary education programme officially ending. Also, I would like to thank everyone involved in the trial for a job well done,” comments Head of Early Childhood Education Miia Kemppi. Staff members have brought up aspects such as the constancy of the groups of children, early identification of children’s support needs and the concrete nature of the curriculum for the trial as positive sides.
The teachers taking part in the trial found two-year pre-primary education to be important from the children’s perspective. “Every child had an opportunity to progress at their own pace, and the span of two years enabled us to work without feeling rushed and brought continuity to our long-running theme projects in accordance with the children’s interests.” The children’s guardians have also given positive feedback on the trial. “The children’s enthusiasm and playfulness, as well as communality, as key aspects of the activities were highlighted brilliantly in Helsinki’s activities in the trial for two-year pre-primary education.”
The City of Helsinki's Education Committee decided on 13 April 2021 (item 191) that five-year-old children would be provided with free-of-charge early childhood education (four hours per day) annually from 1 August onwards, continuing until the start of pre-primary education.