7 Amazing Things to Know About Finnish Kindergartens
For students in Finland, the journey to becoming lifelong learners starts before school in Finnish kindergartens. With no homework or mandated standardized tests, they spend their time playing, exploring, and learning to learn. As a result, Finland has a 100% literacy level, top performers in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and children who love going to school.
Claire Sanders from FunAcademy asked kindergarten teachers to break it down. FunAcademy kindly permitted Kindiedays to repost their findings as we share the same views and have built the Kindiedays solution on the same strengths.
1. Play-Based Learning
“Children play a lot. We do have a curriculum and kindergarten’s own plan. But teachers are free to create our own way to work.” – Anna from Tampere, Kindergarten Teacher.
Preschoolers in Finland spend their days in kindergarten playing and exploring. There are, of course, different types of play, such as digital play, active play, creative play, social play, and free play. While some of it is structured, for the most part, children are encouraged to play freely and independently with their peers. According to extensive studies, play, and exploration are children's most natural forms of acting and thinking characteristics. Therefore, with a predominantly play-based approach, Finnish kindergartens integrate different types of play to optimize children’s learning experience. In other words, they have mastered the art of making learning fun!
2. Spending Quality Time Outdoors
“We take trips to the forests. Even if we are in the city center we have parks and forests we can go to. Children love that, and we have really special moments in there.” – Ulla from Helsinki, Kindergarten Teacher and Manager.
The Finnish landscape is truly enchanting, with an abundance of forests, parks, and lakes around every corner. Furthermore, the country also experiences all four seasons, from hot summer days to subzero winters. Finnish kindergartens introduce children to the nation’s ever-changing climate by spending time outdoors with the kids. Therefore, in every weather, toddlers and teachers gear up in appropriate clothing and play outside multiple times a day. They escape into nature, away from screens, ready-made toys, and the hustle and bustle of life indoors. Often, kids make their own toys using sticks and other things they find in nature, boosting their creativity and imagination.
2. Spending Quality Time Outdoors
“We take trips to the forests. Even in the city center, we have parks and forests we can go to. Children love that, and we have really special moments in there.” – Ulla from Helsinki, Kindergarten Teacher and Manager.
The Finnish landscape is enchanting, with abundant forests, parks, and lakes around every corner. Furthermore, the country also experiences all four seasons, from hot summer days to subzero winters. Finnish kindergartens introduce children to the nation’s ever-changing climate by spending time outdoors with the kids. Therefore, in every weather, toddlers and teachers gear up in appropriate clothing and play outside multiple times a day. They escape into nature, away from screens, ready-made toys, and the hustle and bustle of life indoors. Often, kids make their own toys using sticks and other things they find in nature, boosting their creativity and imagination.
3. Dedicated team of early childhood professionals
“Children have contact with teachers and other adults in the kindergarten a lot. We interact and play with them, and also observe them all the time.” – Maria from Córdoba based in Helsinki, Kindergarten Teacher.
Running a Finnish kindergarten is a team effort by a group of highly trained professionals in ECEC. Therefore, this includes teachers, nurses, therapists, special education teachers, and other specialists in the field. Children have constant contact with this team of professionals while continuously interacting with their peers. Moreover, each child is given special attention and is closely observed in different daily situations. The kindergarten also maintains a continuous dialog with parents. The aim is to ensure children receive the best possible support to develop their overall well-being at school and home.
4. Mixed age group pedagogy
“One of the most special things about Finnish kindergartens is the mixed age group pedagogy.” – Essi from Jyväskylä, Kindergarten Teacher.
In a Finnish kindergarten, you will often find children from the ages 1 to 6 years playing and learning side by side. While children are further divided according to more specific age groups, they spend a lot of time together. Firstly, this enables younger children to look up to and learn from their older counterparts during day-to-day activities.
On the other hand, it encourages older children to be more caring, compassionate, and empathetic towards younger students. More importantly, they get to be mentors and role models, taking on the responsibility of leading through example. Our society is made up of people from all ages and different walks of life. Therefore, students in Finnish kindergartens get an excellent orientation to the real world through mixed-age group pedagogy.
4. Mixed age group pedagogy
“One of the most special things about Finnish kindergartens is the mixed age group pedagogy.” – Essi from Jyväskylä, Kindergarten Teacher.
In a Finnish kindergarten, you will often find children from the ages of 1 to 6 playing and learning side by side. While children are further divided according to more specific age groups, they spend a lot of time together. This enables younger children to look up to and learn from their older counterparts during day-to-day activities.
On the other hand, it encourages older children to be more caring, compassionate, and empathetic towards younger students. More importantly, they get to be mentors and role models, taking on the responsibility of leading through example. Our society comprises people of all ages and different walks of life. Therefore, students in Finnish kindergartens get an excellent orientation to the real world through mixed-age group pedagogy.
5. Special focus on emotional skills
“We help children to use their senses and understand how they feel right now. And why they feel this way.” – Salla from Mikkeli, Kindergarten Teacher.
Following a holistic approach, early education in Finland strives to develop children's mental, physical, social, and emotional skills. This means little children are taught to use their five senses to understand the world around them. Furthermore, they are guided on how to regulate the feelings triggered by their senses. If a child sees a beautiful flower and feels happy, should he pluck it? If he is frightened by hearing thunder, what must he do? Moreover, if he is sad, angry, or uncomfortable, is it because he is hungry or cold? Or is it something more extensive, like a fight with a friend or a situation at home? Most importantly, does he know how he feels now? Can it change after a little while? In Finnish kindergartens, children discover effective and positive ways to balance their emotions and express themselves.
6. Child-led approach
“In Finland, we have a child-led approach. Children know much better how they want to learn.” – Olli from Järvenpää, Kindergarten Teacher, Director and Fun Academy Trainer.
The teacher’s role in a Finnish kindergarten is to support and enable learning. Children proactively engage in learning, taking more control of their learning. The classrooms are far from the traditional setup of rows of little desks and chairs where children sit rigidly, looking up at an authoritative teacher standing over them. Instead, teachers sit with students, discussing and playing with them. As a result, children quickly identify their strengths, interests, and preferred learning methods. Thus, when the focus is on ‘how’ kids learn, what they learn or ‘knowledge’ follows naturally in an effortless and fun way.
6. Child-led approach
“In Finland, we have a child-led approach. Children know much better how they want to learn.” – Olli from Järvenpää, Kindergarten Teacher, Director and Fun Academy Trainer.
The teacher’s role in a Finnish kindergarten is to support and enable learning. Children proactively engage in learning, taking more control of their learning. The classrooms are far from the traditional setup of rows of little desks and chairs where children sit rigidly, looking up at an authoritative teacher standing over them. Instead, teachers sit with students, discussing and playing with them. As a result, children quickly identify their strengths, interests, and preferred learning methods. Thus, when the focus is on ‘how’ kids learn, what they learn or ‘knowledge’ follows naturally in an effortless and fun way.
7. Respecting children and teachers as individuals
“Respect is the substantial foundation we have in the education set-up in Finland. We respect students and educators as individuals.” – Saara from Espoo, VP of Education and Master Trainer at Fun Academy and Kindergarten Teacher.
In the Finnish education system, students and teachers are respected as individuals. Their unique personalities are celebrated, and their individuality is treasured. Children are not considered empty jars to be filled with knowledge or blobs of clay to be moulded. Instead, they are treated as little sprouts and nurtured to grow in their preferred direction. Furthermore, teachers are highly trusted and given the autonomy to decide the best way to teach their own students. Moreover, they are empowered with extensive training and high-quality learning resources and tools. Finnish early education is a collaborative effort to help every child become the best versions of themselves within a safe, empowering, and fun learning environment.
