Pupils’ Self-Esteem in the Early Years of Education within Different Interventions

Abstract

Finland, with the population of 5,3 million inhabitants, has a very high standard education system. Kindergarten and class teachers get their education at universities. Kindergarten teachers study up to the bachelor’s degree (180 credits) and class teachers up to the master’s degree (300 credits). In the past, it was common that these two groups worked separately and hardly had any co-operation. In recent years, it has been noticeable that the gap between these two institutions along with the teachers working in them has narrowed. One explanation can be that administrators have started to see young children’s education as a continuum. Recently, in Finland has been made a significant reform concerning education: early childhood education has been moved in most of the communities from the social welfare administration to the administration of education. A remarkable renovation has also been the idea of putting pre-primary and primary education into the same building. In Finland, every child has an opportunity (in theory) to attend a kindergarten but children are obliged to start school during the year when they turn seven. It has been discussed if children should start school earlier because ca. 98 % of the six-year-olds already participates in pre-primary education. Another main question has been how to make the transfer from kindergarten to school easier for a child.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n2p83