Support and consultation within early childhood education and care
A child participating in early childhood education has the right to general, intensified or special support as provided for in the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care (Section 15a). When early childhood education staff provide support in a timely, individualized manner tailored to the child’s needs, it promotes the child’s development, learning and well-being. When a child receives support, the problems they experience are reduced, and the risk of social exclusion is minimized.
Principles for organizing support
When organizing support, we consider the children’s strengths as well as their needs related to learning, development, and well-being. We also listen to the children’s views on these matters. Support in early childhood education consists of:
- meeting the individual needs of the child
- solutions related to group activities, i.e., those involving a group of children
- solutions related to learning environments
We ensure that every child feels accepted as an individual and as a member of the group. Early childhood education staff support the development of the child’s positive self-image by encouraging the child and providing opportunities to experience success. The early childhood education teacher documents in the child’s early childhood education plan the type of support the staff provides to the child.
It is the staff’s responsibility to identify, at an early stage, the approaches that best support each child — that is, to evaluate the practices, methods, and learning environments at their disposal and assess their suitability for each child.
Based on the review, the staff assess how they can provide better early childhood education by making changes to their own practices and/or the learning environment. If necessary, the staff may invite a special educational needs teacher in early childhood education and care (a special educational needs teacher ECEC) to participate in the review.
A special educational needs teacher in early childhood education and care
A special educational needs teacher ECEC helps other early childhood education staff members in observing and identifying the support measures a child needs, as well as the child’s support needs, as early as possible. The special educational needs teacher ECEC provides special education and offers consultation to both other early childhood education staff and the child's parents. They also serve as contact people regarding the organization of support and related matters. The special educational needs teacher ECEC is also part of a broad early childhood education collaboration network. In Finnish a special educational needs teacher ECEC is also known as VEO (shortened from varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettaja).
You can find the contact information for special educational needs teachers ECEC in the early childhood education and care centers' contact information.
Regional coordinating special educational needs teachers in early childhood education and care
Marika Pätäri, central region
[email protected]
040 575 6478
Riikka Saha, western region
[email protected]
040 178 5617
Taru Karvonen, eastern region
[email protected]
040 355 9710
Liisa Ruoko, southern region
[email protected]
044 486 3740
Jaana Kokko-Backman, southern region
[email protected]
040 800 4700
Early childhood education and care centres
Support in private early childhood education and care centers
The City of Tampere’s early childhood education and care services offer consultation from special educational needs teachers ECEC to private early childhood education and care providers regarding children who require enhanced or special support. The contact information for the special educational needs teachers ECEC is available at each early childhood education and care center. In addition, regular training is organized for private early childhood education and care providers on topics such as supporting children.