Bachelors of social services play an important role in the future of early childhood education and care

Today’s early childhood education and care is no longer just about providing childcare while parents are at work. A child’s greatest developmental leaps happen well before school age, so early childhood education and care is the most effective time to build the child’s learning base and self-efficacy for life.

"The importance of early childhood education cannot be overemphasised. After completing training in ECEC, one of our students went to work in child welfare, but decided to return after seeing the far-reaching impacts of early-stage education,” says Pipsa Murto, lecturer in social services at LAB University of Applied Sciences. 

At the same time, the public image of the sector is affected by misunderstandings that early childhood education and care would be easy or less important work. A constant rush and lack of appreciation increase the workload and stress of employees. 

“However, studies on the guardians’ thoughts on early childhood education and care show that they are really satisfied with their child’s upbringing. Every day, small miracles are made at the day-care centres. And not all ECEC employees are burnt out or tired,” says Outi Kokko-Muhonen, lecturer in ECEC at LAB. 

The competence of ECEC teachers and bachelors of social services complement each other 

Early childhood education and care can be studied at the higher education level, either at a university in the Faculty of Education or at a university of applied sciences in the Bachelor of Social Services in Early Childhood Education and Care degree programme. While, at the university, teacher education focuses more on teaching and guidance, the training for bachelors of social services focuses on social pedagogy, networking and engaging with families.  

“Both degree programmes provide valuable skills for working with groups of children. A key element of the degree programme in social services is supporting the comprehensive wellbeing of children and strengthening their inclusion. In addition, bachelors of social services have extensive knowledge of the social and health care service system and networks that can be used to support children and families,” Kokko-Muhonen explains.   

The need for higher education graduates, such as bachelors of social services in ECEC, has increased significantly, especially as a result of the legislative amendment that entered into force in 2018, according to which at least two thirds of day-care centre staff must be qualified ECEC teachers or bachelors of social services. At LAB, this has led to, for example, an increase in continuing education in social services, in addition to which several student groups aiming for a Bachelor of Social Services degree in ECEC have been launched in cooperation with employers.  

“With the abolition of adult education, demand for online courses that can be completed alongside work has also increased. In online teaching that follows the LAB Opi ja kehitä (Learn and Develop) model, learning takes place in a practical manner, and students work in authentic environments. The aim of the training is to produce high-quality competence, in compliance with the learning outcomes,” Murto says.  

Multiprofessionalism supports high-quality ECEC work 

Although Kokko-Muhonen and Murto both consider the implementation of the requirements set by the new legislation to be challenging on schedule, they still feel that this objective is important. Increasing multiprofessional teamwork supports the implementation of the basic task of ECEC.  

“There is still a lot of confusion about what the role of a bachelor of social services in ECEC actually is alongside other professionals in the early childhood education and care team. Rather than creating a needless dichotomy, I would like to see the competences of various professionals warmly embraced in a collaborative team,” Murto emphasises.   

Today’s families show many growing trends, such as multiculturalism and the increase in technology. Responding to these phenomena requires extensive expertise and comprehensive solutions. For this reason, it is important that early childhood education and care has diverse expertise to support the changing needs of families.  

“The competence in early childhood education and care must be given the value it deserves. This requires that the staff has time and opportunities for discussion and planning, but also that the guardians can have a better influence on how their children are raised. High-quality early childhood education and care ensures that every child feels they have been seen,” Kokko-Muhonen emphasises.