Learning is a holistic process and it takes place everywhere and all the time, not only during teacher-guided activities. Whether it’s playing, dressing up, having a meal or unwinding, children learn valuable skills. Finnish early education addresses all aspects of a child’s growth, not just their academic advancements, with a focus on children's wellbeing.
Read more about holistic learning and development
Playful experiences evoke joy, and this positive emotion enhances learning processes. Through playful activities in different learning environments and with the support of their teachers, children build their knowledge and skills across all learning areas.
Play allows children to utilize everything they have learned, use it in various contexts and build connections between learned items that would otherwise remain disconnected pieces of information.
Variation and repetition are key components of learning, play offers thousands of enjoyable moments for children to practise what they have learned.
They also get to interact with others and strengthen their social, communication and negotiation skills.
Play is both child-initiated free play and teacher-led more structured play. Both have their own role in the HEI Curriculum.
Children’s active participation in activities strengthens the child’s self-image as a person and as a learner.
In addition to teaching academic skills, the Finnish early education focuses on transversal skills also called as future skills, which refer to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits.
Children learn to connect their knowledge throug different subject areas and they acquire soft skills like communication, collaboration and multi-literacy. These competencies also contribute to children's sense of identity, participation and agency.
Finnish early childhood education is also built on the principle of inclusion. It emphasizes early intervention and providing individual support for each child regardless of their needs. This helps create a positive and safe environment for children’s growth, development and learning.
Learn more about special needs and inclusion in Finnish ECE.
