Space for toddlers in the guidelines and curricula for early childhood education and care in Finland

Abstract

In Finland, the policies and practices in early childhood education and care (ECEC) have been characterized by a division into practices and forms of care for children under and over 3 years old. This study analyses the construction of space in the national and local level curricula for the very youngest children. These documents both present ‘child’s best interests’ as age-related, and generalize and distinguish the needs and abilities of the ‘younger’ and the ‘older’ children. At the local level, the space offered for the youngest children is linked to the emphasis on the daycare group as a community of social actors; the youngest ones are seen as inexperienced newcomers, faced with adaptation to the group and its rules.