Vakaata Tukea - Effective Support for Early Childhood Education Reform

Effective Support for Early Childhood Education Reform (VAKAATA TUKEA)

The project examines the practices, processes and implementation of the three-tiered support.

The reform to the Early Childhood Education Act, from the 1st of August 2022, created a unified national support system, binding act on all early childhood education providers and service providers. The system consists of general, intensified and specific support, related forms of support and decision-making processes. An effective support system requires the appropriateness and functionality of child support and related practices, as well as a systematic approach to everyday life based on assessing the effectiveness of support. However, there is currently no information on the introduction of the early childhood education support system and its impact on the support received by children.

The research is carried out in collaboration between three universities. School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education (Skope) at the University of Eastern Finland is leading the research project. School of Educational Sciences and Psychology (Kapsy) is also involved at the University of Eastern Finland. In addition, the University of Tampere and Åbo Akademi University are involved. Both early childhood education and special education are represented in the project.

The results of the research project aim to provide answers to the following questions:

• How is the best interests of the child and the child’s right to support defined and considered when arranging support?
• How is the child’s right to support and continuity of support realized in the child’s everyday life in different service forms and situations?
• What kind of practices have been created to support child participation and agency in municipalities in relation to the organization of child support?
• How do early childhood education professional groups act as providers of support?
• What is and how is the consultation provided by special education teachers, full-time and part-time special education and co-teaching implemented?
• How many municipalities have special groups, integrated groups and reduced groups at the time of the survey?
• To what extent is the impact assessment of the implementation of the aid carried out, what methods are used in the assessment and how are the results of the impact assessment used in the development of the aid practices?
• How much resources are available in municipalities to provide support and to what extent are the resources allocated to support considered sufficient?