Teachers involved in the two-year pre-primary education trial found it more goal-oriented than regular early childhood education

From 2021 to 2024, the Ministry of Education and Culture carried out a national trial on two-year pre-primary education in 148 municipalities. This trial included children born in 2016 and 2017. Approximately 15,000 children began pre-primary education in trial groups at the age of five, while around 20,000 children participated in peer groups within regular early childhood education.

Two recent research articles (Muhonen et al. 2024, 2024) examine the experiences of early childhood education teachers involved in the two-year pre-primary education trial. These articles focus on the provision of pre-primary education for five-year-olds and the teachers' coping at work during the trial.

For the trial, a specific national curriculum was drafted based on the pre-primary education curriculum for six-year-olds. In Finland, however, teachers have considerable autonomy in how to implement pedagogy in practice.

“Teachers play a key role in the success of different educational reforms,” says Professor Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen from the University of Jyväskylä. “It is therefore important to investigate their views about the implementation of two-year pre-primary education and how the trial impacted the teachers’ own well-being at work.”

Focus on goal-orientation and planning

From the groups participating in the trial, a total of 376 teachers answered the survey. Most of them, nearly 60 percent, considered that the pre-primary education of five-year-olds differed from traditional early childhood education for this age group.

“A noteworthy finding was that teachers perceived the pre-primary education of five-year-olds as a more goal-oriented and planned activity than early childhood education in this age group,” states Heli Muhonen, a postdoctoral researcher from the University of Jyväskylä. “Moreover, teachers felt that the pre-primary education of five-year-olds placed more emphasis on practising mathematical and linguistic skills."

In their responses, many teachers highlighted that pre-primary education for five-year-olds was distinct from other activities. It was often organized as separate teaching sessions in a designated space.

In addition, the teachers emphasized the importance of the three-step support system. Those involved in the trial found that starting pre-primary education earlier, along with the three-step support system, allowed for the earlier detection of children's individual needs for support. Consequently, necessary support measures could be implemented at an earlier stage. Since autumn 2022, the three-step support system has also been in use in early childhood education.

On the other hand, a significant proportion of the teachers, about 40%, felt that there was not much difference between pre-primary education and early childhood education for five-year-olds. Although these two types of education are guided by different framework curricula, the documents are largely similar.

"One possible explanation for why a considerable share of teachers did not see much difference," says Professor Maarit Alasuutari from the University of Jyväskylä, "could be that the activity has been systematically planned and goal-oriented already previously, and therefore the trial curriculum did not change their work to any considerable extent. The distinction between the practical implementation of early childhood education and pre-primary education is not explicit, as Finnish early childhood education is typically a high-quality and goal-oriented pedagogical activity as such."

Differences in teachers’ well-being at work

Early childhood education teachers also assessed their coping at work during the two-year pre-primary education trial. According to the findings, most teachers felt some increase in their workload and stress during the trial, but the same teachers also felt a clear increase in engagment at work.

"It seems that most teachers in the trial group felt a balance between their workload and their engagment in work, which is very typical of a teacher’s demanding but also rewarding work," Muhonen summarizes.

However, about a third of the teachers felt significant strain during the trial. These teachers, who experienced the most strain, shared the least responsibility within their work teams.

A small share of teachers also reported that they felt empowered during the trial. The survey data indicated that empowered teachers conducted the greatest number of guided teaching sessions on a weekly level, and their pre-primary education groups consisted mainly of five-year-old children only.

Successful implementation of two-year pre-primary education 

Although teachers' experiences with the provision of pre-primary education for five-year-olds and their own coping at work during the trial varied significantly, the researchers view the results as encouraging. This unique and comprehensive national trial was conducted on a tight schedule. It required significant commitments from the state, municipalities, and individual teachers.

"The results suggest that day-care centers have successfully developed practices that integrate pre-primary education for five-year-olds between early childhood education and pre-primary education for six-year-olds in a meaningful way, without overburdening the staff," says Lerkkanen.

The two-year pre-primary education trial is funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, and it is monitored and evaluated by a multidisciplinary follow-up study conducted by Aalto University, the University of Jyväskylä, the VATT Institute for Economic Research, the University of Helsinki, and the University of Turku. The final report on the trial will be published at the end of 2025. The study is also part of the EDUCA Flagship funded by the Research Council of Finland. This is the first time when education policy decisions will be made on the basis of research. 

An article about the teachers’ views on the differences between pre-primary education and early childhood education for five-year-olds is published in the Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, and another article “Empowered, Strained, or Stable: Teachers’ Experiences of Occupational Well-Being During the Two-Year Pre-Primary Education Trial in Finland” is published in thejournal Early Education and Development.