The long-standing severe staff deficit in early childhood education has forced the city to transfer staff from the playgrounds to daycare centres in autumn 2022 and also in spring 2023 in order to secure the statutory provision of early childhood education.
As a result of the staff transfers, the city announced that it will close playgrounds offering open, or non-statutory, afternoon activities for spring 2023. The city has encouraged all families left without afternoon activities to apply for a place in afternoon activities that are provided in accordance with the Basic Education Act. Families have been active in submitting applications. Currently, it is estimated that the applicants can be offered a place in afternoon activities for spring 2023. The afternoon activities are organised by the city’s service providers, such as organisations, associations, parishes and private businesses.
“We are extremely relieved to have some positive news for families in Helsinki so quickly after the sad news of last week. As we announced last week, we have continued active discussions with various service providers. Now, we are working to ensure that families who need a place in afternoon activities that are provided in accordance with the Basic Education Act also get one,” says Satu Järvenkallas, Head of Education Division of the City of Helsinki.
Families in Helsinki who have been left without afternoon activities for school pupils can apply for afternoon activities that are provided in accordance with the Basic Education Act for the spring of 2023. The application can be submitted electronically on the city’s website at www.hel.fi/helsinki/en/childhood-and-education/comprehensive/morning-afternoon/afternoon
Families have been informed about the application process at the end of last week.
“We will be active in providing information about the progress of the plan and the organisation of the activities,” says Satu Järvenkallas.
Long-standing severe staff deficit at the root of difficulties in early childhood education
As the city has previously reported, there are areas and units in both Finnish- and Swedish-language early childhood education in Helsinki where it has not been possible to recruit enough staff, despite several measures, to meet the statutory staffing levels. The situation has continued for years, and there are also staffing problems in other cities.
In addition to the limited number of available student places in early childhood education studies, the situation is affected by a wider labour shortage, due to the decrease in the working-age population. It causes and will continue to cause problems in the availability of labour, particularly in the various service sectors of society.
“While we are happy that the situation in spring 2023 is not quite as bleak as it looked just last week, it is clear that the problem itself is not about to disappear. The staff deficit and labour shortage in early childhood education are real problems that we will face in the future, both in Helsinki and in other municipalities. The City of Helsinki is not alone struggling with these problems. That is why, solutions to secure the future of early childhood education in Finland must be sought on a national level,” says Satu Järvenkallas.