Evaluating the quality of the child care in Finland

Teachers' contribution to the social life in Finnish preschool classrooms during structured learning sessions

“…The ECERS framework is of the most frequently used quality assessment frameworks in Europe and elsewhere, and several research groups have established revised, translated versions of the original ECERS, such as the ECERS-R in Arabic (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale -Revised, Hadeed, 2013) and the ECERS-E (The Four Curricular Subscales Extension to the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (Sylva, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggart, 2010). In the Finnish educational context, in most cases quality has been conceptualised using the quality evaluation model (Hujala-Huttunen, 1995;Hujala et al, 1999;Hujala, Fonsén, et al, 2012), where quality is reviewed from the point of view of different actors and factors in the context of early childhood education. Also, in the Finnish context, Tauriainen (2000) has evaluated quality through a participatory paradigm, where the perceptions, descriptions and interpretations reported by three primary stakeholders-staff, parents, and children-regarding quality in one particular day care group, were considered.…”

“…In addition, small scale studies have been conducted using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS: Harms & Clifford, 1980). Aside from these, the field of early childhood education lacks systematic observational tools and no nationally guided quality evaluation has been carried out so far (Hujala, Fonsén, et al, 2012). This study contributes to the understanding of process quality in the field of Finnish preschool education by having conjunctively used the Teaching Through Interactions framework and the CLASS measure as quantitative and qualitative research tools in assessing classroom quality profiles within the Finnish context.…”

“…13 Fonsén, & Elo, 2012). Therefore, the study needed to deliver relevant and timely observational information on the nature of teacher-child interaction in Finnish preschool classrooms and of its contribution to classroom quality, using a theoretical Teaching Through Interactions framework (Hamre et al, 2013) that is relatively new to Finnish educational culture.…”

Parents’ and teachers’ perspectives on changes in childcare quality in the United States, Russia and Finland

“…Within this study frame, contextually defined ECE and its institutional programmes have been contextualised based on the studies of quality in ECE (Hujala, Fonsen & Elo 2012). Operationalisation of the quality is based on the theoretically constructed quality evaluation model of ECE (Hujala et al 2012).…”

“…Operationalisation of the quality is based on the theoretically constructed quality evaluation model of ECE (Hujala et al 2012). The quality model consists of structural variables describing programme setting, such as group size, process variables describing implementation and the practice of ECE and output variables describing child satisfaction with ECE.…”