Early childhood education is the first step in the education system, and it lays the foundation for the realisation of a child’s rights. Private early childhood education plays an important role as part of early childhood education services, providing families with diverse, high-quality services. It covers approximately 40,000 children in Finland.
To promote the conditions for the private early childhood education sector, FEE, JHL, OAJ, SuPer and Talentia started negotiations on the sector’s own collective agreement on 17 September 2024.
– We are very pleased that, in cooperation with our partners, we will be able to create our own collective agreement for the private early childhood education sector, based on the special characteristics of the sector. As a result, our members will be able to better focus on providing families with the best possible early childhood education service, says Joona Kaunisniemi, Labour Market Expert at FEE.
– JHL is very pleased with the new collective agreement, which will meet the future needs of the early childhood education sector and take its professional special characteristics into account better than currently. The work starts now, but understandably, fine-tuning the collective agreement to reach its optimal form will take more time than just the negotiations in the coming autumn, says Hanna Katajamäki, Senior Bargaining Specialist at JHL.
– OAJ has been aiming to establish a collective agreement for the private early childhood education sector for a long time, and we are pleased that it can now be negotiated. We want to ensure that the employment terms of early childhood education teaching staff are implemented in the best possible way in the new collective agreement," says Kirsi Sutton, Senior Special Advisor negotiating the agreement on behalf of OAJ.
–It is important that the private early childhood education sector is developed by negotiating more suitable terms of employment for the sector. At the same time, the attraction and retention of highly skilled personnel in the private early childhood education sector will also be ensured. The sector’s own collective agreement provides a good opportunity for this," says Jukka Parkkola, Contract Negotiator at SuPer.
– In the private early childhood education sector, the role of Bachelors of Social Services who have graduated from universities of applied sciences is significant among teachers, managers and the new professional group, i.e. Bachelors of Social Services, Early Childhood Education and Care. Talentia is motivated to build a new collective agreement that takes into account the needs of multidisciplinary competence," says Jenni Karsio, President of Talentia Union of Social Workers.
Additional information
- Finnish Education Employers (FEE): Labour Market Expert Joona Kaunisniemi, tel. 040 522 5799, and Labour Market Expert Eija Meripaasi, tel. 050 361 5871
- Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL: Senior Bargaining Specialist Hanna Katajamäki, tel. 050 513 7701
- OAJ: Senior Special Advisor Kirsi Sutton, tel. 020 748 9768
- SuPer: Contract Negotiator Jukka Parkkola, tel. 050 569 8710
- Talentia: President Jenni Karsio, tel. 044 541 5955
The private early childhood education sector employs approximately 10,000 persons. Approximately 20 per cent of children living in Finland are in private ECEC centres, i.e. more than 40,000 children receive early childhood education and care in private early childhood education services. However, the industry has not previously had its own collective agreement; instead, the operators have been covered by the collective agreement for the private social services sector, among others.
