The operating environment of early childhood education is changing

The operating environment of early childhood education has changed in many ways in recent years. Several trends are visible, which are already strongly underway and which can be expected to bring new challenges to early childhood education and the necessary expertise in the coming years. The new Early Childhood Education Act requires a more systematic and goal-oriented approach to work (OKM, 2015)

Structural, cultural, technical and economic changes in society have also affected the lives of children and families. There is a debate about the increasing welfare gaps and marginalization of children and families. A study conducted by the Ministry of Education and Culture (2014) found that up to 8% of children need special support for their growth and development. Practical competence challenges have been highlighted in early childhood education, especially as the number of children in need of special support increases. In a changing world, early childhood educators may experience an imbalance between their own skills and the challenges of their work, and the resources of special early childhood education are not always sufficient.

Early childhood education should always be a systematic effort for each child, based on assessing and supporting the child’s individual strengths and challenges. No validated assessment methods have been used for assessment. Assessment is still generally carried out by free observation, and this leads to random recording of observations. In addition to reliable assessment tools, new skills are also needed for assessing the need for special support and for the targeted implementation of various necessary interventions. Research is constantly producing new information about a child’s development and growth, but the problem is often transferring the knowledge into practical work as new methods of operation. Skills and new methods will not be put into use if the entire work community, including management, is not committed to developing their own work. The knowledge and skills acquired in various training courses must be implemented in everyday work. The introduction and monitoring of new working methods require a systematic change in the working methods of the entire work community.

Tools are needed to assess and support children’s skills

Play and interacting with friends are the most important learning arenas for a child, and play and peer skills are thought to reflect a child’s basic abilities and skills in other areas of activity, such as future school learning, performing daily life tasks, various tasks requiring manual skills, and especially in social interaction situations. However, not all children play or know how to play together with other children. The environment of a daycare center is thought to provide children with opportunities to play, but it is not always a question of the existence of opportunities alone, but of how the child himself is able to respond to these challenges and opportunities offered by the environment.

Quality work from digital solutions

High-quality early childhood education services and competent personnel promote a child’s balanced development. Renewing knowledge and changing interpretations of childhood also challenge the development of early childhood education pedagogical practices and the modernisation of working methods. An increasingly broad range of expertise and the ability to utilise and apply the know-how of a network working with children is required. One solution for sharing the expertise of an expert network has been proposed to build various digital service models. We have created the RALLA service with the aim of supporting early childhood educators in their everyday work and promoting multidisciplinary dialogue.

The RALLA service is based on two doctoral dissertations and the methods we have developed over the past ten years together with education and rehabilitation professionals. We offer expert support in identifying a child’s individual strengths and in preparing an early childhood education and rehabilitation plan by producing electronic tools for use by daycare and rehabilitation experts.

The service package does not aim to replace the responsibilities of social and health care, but to produce more expertise and reliable digital methods for early childhood education and care for everyday assessment, goal setting and pedagogical planning. The current goal of health care and rehabilitation is also to assess and support the child in their own environment and in activities that are important and meaningful to them and their family, and therefore everyday observations become important in this assessment process. Valid tools help early childhood educators bring their own observations to this multi-professional discussion. The upcoming social and health care reform also aims to break down the boundaries between different administrative sectors and more responsibility for children’s rehabilitation will be transferred to everyday actors. We want to be part of this development and produce digital solutions especially for early childhood education and care.

Tiina Lautamo