My family and I have lived in Oulu for one year in which time our daughter Róisín has been in the Finnish childcare system. When you live overseas you hear how Scandinavia is miles ahead in child development. You get here and realise that Finns put their money where their mouth is. They place great emphasis on the education of their children at all levels. They see children as the future of the country.
So why is the childcare system so good in Finland compared to a country like Australia, where we had been living prior to here? In Australia, most childcare centres are privately owned and often employ young workers on poor pay. Our previous childcare centre in Adelaide had a big turnover of staff and they had undergone limited training. In most cases working in a childcare centre is seen as an easy option for school leavers. In saying that, the girls who worked at our local centre were fantastic.
A government subsidy is paid to parents but the cost to us was still $60 AUD (31€) a day. This worked out at $1,200 AUD (625€). Though in Australia compulsory, free education begins two years earlier than in Finland there are many other upfront expenses which in Finland are covered by tax such as food and school uniform.
The kids never went on excursions to the beach when it was only 1km away. Visits to museums or galleries were never encouraged. Childcare centres were usually run for profit meaning that activities such as excursions were viewed as unnecessary expense.
In Finland pre-school consists of education, teaching and care (educare). Activities are integrated and play is emphasised as a learning method. For example, in the ‘alphabet game’ a kid is thrown a on object, say a fluffy toy, and asked to say a word starting with the letter chosen by the teacher. When they get it right they throw the toy to another kid and pick the letter which that kid has to find a word for.
We arrived in Oulu, visited our local päiväkoti and we were amazed at the facilities. They are top class. At my daughter’s centre in Välkkylä, they have sections for babies, middle kids and older children. They have a great art area, a grand old piano and a huge outside play-area with swings, wooden boat and sandpit. The food is delivered from outside the centre, even though they have a cook on hand and each day they serve up really wholesome healthy food. The kids eat fish soup, pasta, meat soup or makkara on any given day.
The cost of sending your child to a council run päiväkoti depends on what you earn. If you are a student and not working you will probably pay nothing but workers pay based on their income. For example, if you have two kids in päiväkoti and you earn over 1344 euros then you pay 7.9% of your income up to a maximum of 200 euros per child monthly. There are steep fee discounts for families with more than two children in care. The net result of the fee structuring system is that costs do not eat up too much of the household budget.
These fees apply to centres run by the City of Oulu which make up the majority of those in town. A number of privately run centres are in also operation. Some employ particular education philosophies such as Montessori or use English as the language of instruction. The municipal authorities subsidise places in these centres but the fees are usually higher. Subsidies are also available for home-care of children.
City of Oulu centres obviously employ Finnish. The language barrier left our girl a little isolated at first but she has picked up enough to get by and the staff are very accommodating, helping her when she needs explaining in English. She has benefited greatly from this. Roisin has learned Finnish songs through singing them daily.
In one year Róisín has been on excursions to the zoological museum at the University of Oulu, visited the Cathedral for a church service, been picked up by the miniature train and taken around town, visited an elderly peoples home to sing, gone ice skating and, when the weather was warmer, taken over to the hill in Raksilla at least once a week to do gymnastics.
Recently I interviewed Ritta Sipilä, teacher at Välkkylä päiväkoti, who has worked in childcare for 8 years. I began by asking what attracted her to early childhood education. "I had my own children and noticed that I loved being with children and wanted to learn more about the education of children," she said.
One of the distinguishing features of the Finnish system is the relatively late school starting age of seven. Ritta is a strong supporter of the policy, her first-hand experience telling her that children benefit from the extra years of non-formal learning. "I believe they grow up to be stronger adults when they have a long childhood. They should not be hurried up, I really believe in it", she told me.
At age six children begin a transition year to prepare them for school, as Ritta explains, "The kids still play but they also learn mathematics, alphabet and some learn to read and write". I spoke to numerous parents in Oulu about this and all agreed that the later age for starting school was excellent and the kids really benefit from it. While happy where she is, the only criticism Ritta has is the class sizes - there are 23 children to 3 teachers at her centre. She would prefer smaller class sizes for more one-to-one attention.
While there is always room for improvement my husband and I, and our daughter, are very happy with the child care provided in Oulu.
I highly recommend you put your kids into the Oulu päiväkoti system and witness the benefits.
