Early Childhood Education: Helsinki Is Pulling the Rug Out From Under Families With Young Children

Helsinki is planning to close 18 day-care and group family day-care units while also proposing the removal of the Helsinki supplement to the home-care allowance. Both measures target families with young children, even though they should be receiving more support, not facing further hardship.

Parents in Helsinki already feel that decision-makers do not listen to them, according to assessments cited in the article. Their many contacts with the city reflect an acute concern about the changes. Families say small, nearby units create a shared culture where children, parents and staff know one another. Daily life feels familiar and safe, while stable relationships remain central to good early childhood education.

The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre has emphasized the importance of lasting, secure interactions and identified efficiency-driven thinking as a risk in early childhood education. Helsinki’s own review of the effects of day-care size found no evidence that larger units offered better quality or lower costs. In the material examined, staff turnover was highest in units serving 100 to 150 children.

“

Early childhood education can no longer be cut without weakening children’s well-being.

The article argues that Helsinki has tightened the productivity requirements of early childhood education for years. Staff are moved between groups and units, facilities are planned ever more efficiently, and anything considered extra has gradually been removed. Cutting further, it says, would harm children’s well-being. Ending the Helsinki supplement could also increase child poverty and place more babies in large day-care centers.

Hagman says the city should secure funding, give professionals room to work, and provide children with a safe day-care routine built on stable relationships. She argues that Helsinki, which has sought to maintain a low municipal tax rate, should consider whether protecting that rate is more important than supporting children’s growth and development.

“

If money is tight, Helsinki, which wants to maintain a low municipal tax rate, could also consider whether protecting a low tax rate is more important than children’s growth and development.