Nursery World - Nursery Management: Managers in Scandinavia

Scandinavia is famed for the quality of its early years settings. So, what is it actually like to work over there? Nicole Weinstein asks a leader at four different settings to describe a day in their life

In Finland and Sweden, every child has a right to highly subsidised pre-school education, and in both countries this is free to low-income families.

In Finland, participation in pre-school education became compulsory for six-year-olds in 2015. There is no equivalent to Ofsted; instead, settings feed information to government using computer programmes, and there are inspections for issues such as safety.

In Sweden there are formal regulators. Childcare never costs more than 3 per cent of the parents’ income per child. The maximum monthly fee for a one- to three-year-old is £122; for a three- to five-year-old it is £81.

DAYCARE CENTRES AURINGONKUKKA AND LESKENLEHTI, FINLAND

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