Practical guide for immigrant parents starting in Finnish early childhood education and care

Abstract

Immigration is currently a global topic discussed from multiple perspectives. This thesis particularly focuses on immigrant families and aims to provide immigrant parents easily accessible support a step by step guide as they begin to engage with the Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system. Alongside, the guide also serves as a practical tool for the ECEC professionals when introducing Finnish ECEC daycare to immigrant parents. It may also serve as a reference guide for related contexts. The development of this guide involved a review of existing research literature on immigration related topics, semi structured qualitative interviews with immigrant parents, and brainstorming sessions and interviews with ECEC professionals. The outcome of the development work is a practical guide for immigrant parents starting in Finnish ECEC. It is a 44 page digital handbook that includes five main chapters: Parent’s dictionary, Welcome to daycare, Daily practices, Communication between guardians and ECEC professionals, and Further information. Following several rounds of suggestions from the commissioner daycare’s professionals and feedback from the parents, the current version of the guide is considered highly practical. It features a cheerful visual style, making it well suited for new immigrant parents and useful for professionals as an orientation tool for newcomers.