Today’s children face a variety of challenges in their daily lives that can affect their social well-being, which is a key part of children’s holistic development. Increased use of technology, busy lifestyles, and family diversity can bring changes and stress to a child’s life and reduce children’s opportunities for natural…

In this blog, we examine the power of collaboration in early childhood education, introduced by Anniina Berg. We focus on the importance of multidisciplinary teamwork for the quality of early childhood education and how the strengths of different professional groups together create a solid foundation for our children’s growth and…

I am very pleased to join the RALLA team as a new member to build an operating culture that recognizes the strengths and needs of children. At RALLA, we consider children’s participation, play, observation of peer activities and supporting these skills important. RALLA’s research-based approach and strong expertise in educational…

Jouni Veijalainen, PhD, works at the Faculty of Education, University of Helsinki, and teaches and lectures on child upbringing, psychological development and well-being around Finland. In his doctoral dissertation, he has examined how children’s different skills, emotional expressions and the coping mechanisms they describe are anchored in assessed self-regulation skills….

Enabling and supporting a child’s active participation is valuable from the perspective of both the child’s future and childhood. Every child has the right to have safe experiences in their own peer group. Guaranteeing children’s rights is, in turn, the responsibility of adults. How can we adults do our part…

Play is a universal phenomenon: children play everywhere. Even young children talk about playing and their play. However, play is a phenomenon that is difficult to conceptualize unambiguously and comprehensively. However, expertise in play requires the ability to define play and the ability to be aware of how play constructs…

Can digital methods help educators identify and anticipate a child’s learning needs? Digital services can be used more effectively to eradicate loneliness and bullying from children’s worlds and to hear children’s customer perspectives. Digital tools can act as a tool for the operational management of early childhood education staff, in…

Enabling children to participate and be involved in various everyday environments has been raised in general social debate, in speeches by experts in education, social work and rehabilitation. A child’s participation and joining in activities is possible when the child has sufficient skills to participate in meaningful and appropriate activities…

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…

I often lecture on the development of children’s life skills. When I talk about learning skills in pre-school children, I am asked what all children should know at what age. Comparing to age is based on a previously strongly held notion of so-called normal development. However, I would like to…