In English

Early Childhood Education Teacher´s Union of Finland (ECE Teacher´s Union)

ORGANIZATION BROCHURE (Click on the image):

The Early Childhood Education Teacher´s Union of Finland is a professional organisation of early childhood education. We promote the recognition of our ECE teacher´s and early childhood education, and also support children’s rights.

Members of the ECE Teacher´s Union are working as ECE teachers, special ECE teachers, day-care center directors, guided family day-care directors, day-care inspectors and other professionals in the field of early childhood education.

The Early Childhood Education Teacher´s Union of Finland  is a trade union with over 14 000 members, and growing. We are part of the Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ). OAJ is an interest organisation for all teachers with over 120 000 members. Both ECE Teacher´s Union and OAJ are part of an umbrella organization AKAVA, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland.

Collective bargaining is in the hands of AKAVA and Public Sector Negotiating Commission (JUKO). OAJ also negotiates collective agreements concerning private day-care centers.

Members are served by local shop stewards, special advisers and officials of regional associations and the offices of the Early Childhood Education Teacher´s Union and OAJ. Responsibility for looking after ECE teachers interests are divided between OAJ and ECE Teacher´s Union. OAJ is responsible for salaries- and employment-related issues and ECE Teacher´s Union professional matters.

Early Childhood Education Teacher´s Union gathers together all the ECE teacher Associations in Finland. ECE Teacher´s Union have members approximately in 250 associations, which are mainly local teacher associations. At the moment there are 30 kindergarten teacher associations, of which five of them are Swedish-speaking, and two pedagogical associations. In many municipalities and cities, ECE teachers don’t have their own associations but they are part of the local teachers association.

Administration of Early Childhood Education Union in Finland

The highest decision maker is the ECE Teacher´s Union Council. The council is elected for four years at the time and has 45 members from all over Finland. The annual Council meetings are held in spring and autumn. Every four years the Council elects the President of the ECE  Teacher´s Union, deputy president, chairperson and the deputy chairperson of the Council.

The Union board has 14 members including the President and deputy president of the Union. The ECE teacher associations nominates the representatives for the board, and Council accepts the nominees to the board. The Executive Board meet once a month.

Currently, the President of the ECE Teacher´s Union of Finland on term 2022-2026 is Mrs Anitta Pakanen from city of Oulu.

History of the Early Childhood Education Teacher´s Union in a nutshell

The ECE Teacher´s Union of Finland was founded in January 1919, with about 100 participants from all over Finland. The meeting decided rules for the association. The first paragraph stated that “the meaning of Kindergarten Teachers Union in Finland is to progress the development of kindergarten work and enhance the meaning of kindergarten teacher’s profession in society, economically and developmental issues”. First president of the Kindergarten Teachers Union (ECE Teacher´s Union) was Mrs Elisabeth Alander.

Mission, values and vision

Mission

The ECE Teacher´s Union and ECE teachers are the specialists of early childhood education.

Values

Strong professional identity
The ECE Teacher´s Union is a strong specialist of early childhood education. ECE teacher is the best pedagogical expert for early childhood education.