Kirsti Karila

Curricula of Finnish Kindergarten Teacher Education: Interpretations of Early Childhood Education, Professional Competencies and Educational Theory

SUMMARY The presentation is based on the ongoing research project The Pedagogical Formation of Early Childhood Education in Finland. The data of the first stage consists of all written kindergarten teacher training curricula drawn up in 1973–2002. The aim is to discover the nature of the expertise that the kindergarten teacher training programmes delivered over this period were intended to generate and also to discover what kinds of outlines, divisions and tools concerning the pedagogics of early childhood education the curricula of kindergarten teacher training have offered to the students in the different phases of the training. The curricula are placed in a context comprising the history of training in Finland and its main stages (institute phase, college phase, university phase). The training objectives have been closely linked with the development of day care and pre-school education provision. The objective texts reveal three dimensions in the expertise expected of a kindergarten teacher: a systemic and community-oriented perspective, promoting and supporting the childrens development, and improving the kindergarten teachers own critical thinking and the preparedness to acquire new information. Central subjects include early childhood education and developmental psychology. The curricula contain no intentional definition of early childhood education which would describe its most central features. Instead, they are grounded on extensional definitions, which list the phenomena covered by the domain of early childhood education. Developmental psychology has served kindergarten teachers as a source of theoretical tools for making sense of early childhood education, but now they should be able to analyse their work also on the basis of educational theory. Nevertheless, the union of education and development has been the strength of kindergarten teacher education.

Acting as a Professional in a Finnish Early Childhood Education Context

This chapter describes and analyses the Finnish case study and begins by illustrating the macro-level context in which Finnish early childhood education practitioners work. In analysing the teacher’s day, it is possible to see that a typical day is constructed around a number of meaningful episodes. The findings show that being an early childhood professional at the current time in Finland is challenging as practitioners face new expectations for professionalism in the early childhood field due to changes in society and working life. Supportive environments are required to renew professional identities and develop everyday practices based on these new expectations. In future, more discussion is required about the resources practitioners need when implementing new expectations and requirements, and also about their own reflections related to their working practices so that their voices are clearly heard.

Discourses at the boundary spaces: developing a fluent transition from preschool to school

This article examines the preschool–school transition in the Finnish school system from institutional and professional perspectives. It takes place in a context in which the fluent transition from preschool to primary school is supported by developing joint lessons for preschool and primary school children. Transition is seen as a process in which culturally and historically constructed institutional boundaries form an arena for professional learning. The study focuses on boundary work and boundary spaces. Boundaries are seen as spaces where resources from different practices are brought together to expand interpretations of multifaceted tasks. The data are analyzed from a discursive perspective. The study investigates how professionals create new forms of activity when collaborating in boundary spaces. Three discursive frames were identified. The first is called the ‘initiative frame’, the second the ‘consensus frame’ and the third the ‘collaboration frame’. These frames are considered in relation to creating new, shared practices and a common object of activity.

Peer mentoring as a support for beginning preschool teachers

Abstract This study examines how peer mentoring facilitates the professional identity construction of beginning preschool teachers in Finland. The article presents an analysis of qualitative biographical data gathered from interviews and diaries of two case teachers. We define peer mentoring of beginning preschool teachers as mutual instruction between teachers of similar educational background and professional status, as characterized by a coequal and reciprocal relationship. The findings suggest that teachers at the beginning of their career benefit from peer mentoring. It provides a space where beginning preschool teachers can construct their professional role and pedagogical practice. We suggest that peer mentoring among beginning preschool teachers offers an effective mentoring approach in ECE (early childhood education) and a means of supporting the in-service development of preschool teachers.