Early childhood education and care: documentation of statistics

Data description (SIMS 3.1)

Statistics on early childhood education and care includes data on children participating in early childhood education and care and on operators and place of activities of early childhood education and care. Data are obtained from the Finnish National Agency for Education’s Varda database and Åland’s data from Statistics and Research Åland (ÅSUB). The data are published once a year.

Concepts and definitions (SIMS 3.4)

Centre-based early education

An early education centre is an early childhood education and care site where early childhood education and care is provided by employees meeting statutory qualification requirements. Centre-based early education is early childhood education and care provided in an early education centre

Early childhood education and care

Systematic and goal-oriented activity consisting of upbringing, education and care for children, with special emphasis on pedagogy. Early childhood education and care is provided as centre-based early education, family-based day care and open early childhood education and care. Family-based day care can be provided as family-based day care or group family day care.

Early childhood education and care actor

An organisation or person that organises or provides early childhood education and care under the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care. An early childhood education and care actor may be a municipality, a joint municipal authority, a private actor providing a municipality with early childhood education and care on a contractual basis, an early childhood education and care provider accepting service vouchers, a family day care childminder or some other registered early childhood education and care actor operating on a private basis. Using private day care allowance or child home care allowance to hire a childminder in an employment relationship to look after a child at home is not early childhood education and care under the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care and such childminders are not early childhood education and care actors

Early childhood education and care site

A set of premises where a provider of early childhood education and care operates under the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care. An early childhood education and care site may be an early education centre, a set of family day care premises, or a set of group family day care premises located in one address. For example, each of the branches of an early education centre is considered an early education centre.

Family-based day care

Family day care premises are an early childhood education and care site where early childhood education and care is provided by a person meeting statutory qualification requirements and where the number of children present at any one time does not exceed the maximum permitted under the law. In family day care premises, early childhood education and care is the responsibility of one family day care childminder. Family-based day care is early childhood education and care provided in family day care premises

Full-time early childhood education and care

Early childhood education and care where a child is agreed to spend more than five hours a day

Group family day care

Group family day care premises are an early childhood education and care site where early childhood education and care is provided by personnel meeting statutory qualification requirements in premises approved for the purpose where the number of children present at any one time does not exceed the maximum permitted under the law. In group family day care premises, early childhood education and care is the responsibility of at least two family day care childminders or other persons with early childhood education and care qualifications. Group family day care is family-based day care where the children are jointly looked after by two or three family day care childminders

Mode of organising early childhood education and care

Early childhood education and care can be organised by a municipality or a joint municipal authority, purchased by a municipality or a joint municipal authority, based on a service voucher supplied by a municipality or a joint municipal authority, based on private day care allowance, or provided as private early childhood education and care without private day care allowance.

Open early childhood education and care

Early childhood education and care provided as a club activity for children or for children together with an adult. Open early childhood education and care is primarily intended for children that do not take part in part-time or full-time early childhood education and care. Open early childhood education and care includes playgrounds, club and play schemes for children and open early education. There are no statutory qualification requirements for persons working in open early childhood education and care or for the number of employees required for each site.

Origin and background country

During 2012, Statistics Finland has adopted a new origin classification. A similar classification is already used in the other Nordic countries. The origin and background country are determined based on the country of birth data of the person's parents. Using the origin classification it is easy to distinguish between persons born abroad and born in Finland with a foreign background. Data on persons that died before 1964 have not been entered into the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre. There are nearly 900,000 persons among the Finnish population who have been born in Finland and both parent's country of birth is unknown because the parents of these persons have died before the Population Information System was established. People born in Finland before 1970, whose parents' background is not known, have been concluded to be persons with Finnish background if their native language is a national language (Finnish, Swedish, Sami). All such persons who have at least one parent who was born in Finland are also considered to be persons with Finnish background. The background country for all persons with Finnish background is Finland. Persons whose both parents or the only known parent have been born abroad are considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons who have been born abroad and whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System are also considered to be persons with foreign background. Persons born in Finland before 1970, whose native language is a foreign language have been considered to be persons with foreign background, as have persons born in Finland in 1970 or after this, whose parents' data are not included in the Population Information System. If both parents of a person have been born abroad, the background country is primarily the country of birth of the biological mother. If a person only has knowledge of a father that was born abroad, the background country is the country of birth of the father. If either parent's country of birth is unknown, the background country for persons born abroad is their own country of birth. For persons born in Finland, whose parents' data are unknown and who have been deducted to be with foreign background, the background country is unknown. For children adopted from abroad, the adoptive parents are regarded as the biological parents. Thus a child adopted from abroad by persons born in Finland is a person with Finnish background and their background country is Finland.

Part-time early childhood education and care

Early childhood education and care where a child is agreed to spend a maximum of five hours a day

Round the clock daycare

Early childhood education and care which is organised also outside the normal opening hours. The normal opening hours are defined as weekdays (Mon-Fri) between 06.00-18.00.

Type of early childhood education and care

Early childhood education and care is provided as centre-based early education, family-based day care, group family day care or open early childhood education and care

Institutional mandate (SIMS 6)

Quality assurance (SIMS 11.1)

Release calendar (SIMS 8.1)

User access (SIMS 8.3)

Confidentiality - policy (SIMS 7.1)