Projects and Government Grants

Art Seeds and Tutors in Culture Education Project

Involvement, playfulness, joy of expression, imagination, and interaction!

The Art Seeds and Tutors in Culture Education project provides additional training and strengthens the cultural and art education skills of early childhood educators in Oulu. The project lasts until April 30, 2026, and is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF+).

The additional training in art education mainly takes place in daycares through a tutoring process developed in the project. During the project, every daycare in Oulu will receive additional training where an art education professional, an art tutor, works with child groups, and the staff also participates in the activities. The methods used by the art tutor can be applied by the daycare professionals even after the tutoring visits end. Both adults and children in the daycare can participate in the art education tutoring without prior experience in the art tutor's field.

In addition to tutoring-based training, the project organizes lectures and training afternoons for early childhood educators, as well as method training for staff, for example, during planning or evaluation days. To support cultural education, the project will also produce a poster and a guide, which will be distributed to daycares in autumn 2025.

Information about the training will be communicated through Oulu city's internal communication channel Akkuna, the email list of Oulu city's cultural representatives of day care centers, the communication channels of private daycare directors in Oulu, and the project's Instagram account @taiteen_taimet.

All training aligns with the early childhood education plan and the pre-primary education curriculum.

The project funder requires the target group participating in the project to record personal data to verify that the staff participants are the correct individuals. Staff login is done with personal bank credentials in the EURA2021 system. Instructions for logging in will be provided during the tutoring.

Project Goals

• Strengthen, develop, and deepen the professional skills of early childhood education staff in cultural and art education by bringing art educators as art tutors into their work environment.
• Promote continuous learning and learning from each other in the work community.
• Strengthen the staff's own art education skills as part of their professional competence.
• Introduce new forms of additional training and art education tutoring into the daily life of early childhood education in Oulu.
• Indirectly promote accessible, equal, high-quality, and diverse cultural education in early childhood education, enhancing well-being through culture in the work community.
• Conduct extensive impact assessment during the project.

Project Progress

• An initial survey was sent to early childhood education staff in Oulu in January 2024 to identify the needs for additional training in art education.
• Tutoring pilot periods were conducted in partner daycares in January-February 2024.
• Actual art tutor visits began in spring 2024 and will continue until the end of February 2026.
• Tutoring periods will be offered to as many groups as possible in each daycare based on the needs identified in the initial survey.
• Art tutors include the project coordinators and art education professionals from the project's partner organizations. The project's activities are integrated into existing practices, utilizing models like the "Half Day Outdoors" model and STEAM pedagogy.
• A poster and a guide will be created to support cultural education in early childhood education and will be distributed to every daycare group in Oulu in autumn 2025.

For more information and contact:

• Project Manager: Heidi Anttila, 040 3537325, heidi.m.anttila@ouka.fi
• Project Coordinator: Paula Puumalainen, 040 5155482, paula.puumalainen@ouka.fi
• Project Coordinator: Valtteri Huovinen, 040 1823436, valtteri.huovinen@ouka.fi

The Moving Children Project is focused on the well-being and physical activity culture in early childhood education. The goal of the project is to strengthen a culture that promotes physical activity to support the entire daycare community and the well-being of early childhood educators. The project supports and increases both the communal and individual physical activities of early childhood educators during the early education day, in accordance with the ‘Half a Day Outdoors’ activity model, by engaging in physical activities with the children.
 
Objectives of the Activity

• Strengthening the physical activity of early childhood education staff with children during the workday
• Improving the overall well-being of the daycare community
• Supporting the well-being and work endurance of early childhood education staff

The project spans three years (2024-2026) and annually selects 10-20 daycare centers that wish to improve the well-being and work endurance of their work community.

The following daycare centers have been selected for the year 2024:

• Eastern area: Haapalehto, Saarela
• Central area: Kalliola, Kastelli, Koskela, Meri-Toppila
• Northern area: Asema, Teknologiakylä
• Southern area: Knuutilankangas, Oulunlahti
   
• Work communities are provided with tools to enhance community well-being, work endurance, and to increase the personal physical activity of staff.
• Daycare centers are provided with break exercise equipment and programs, activity trackers to monitor personal activity, Inbody measurements, lectures on nutrition and sleep, and programs for physical activities with children.
• Joint idea workshops are organized for daycare physical activity coordinators to activate the early education day and to implement the inclusion of physical activity and children’s participation.
• Leaders are offered training through the ‘Moving Early Childhood Education Leaders’ workshop.
• Staff are provided with training related to the functional use of the yard, physical activities in small spaces, and outdoor activities.
• Programmatic/financial support is offered for staff recreation days.

Partners include Sports Services, Personnel Services, the University of Oulu, and PoPLi ry. The project receives support from the local grants for a physically active lifestyle, provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture and distributed by the Regional State Administrative Agency.

Further Information

Tarja Kuusisto
Project Coordinator
tarja.kuusisto@ouka.fi 
p. 050 3412857

With the state’s special grant, learning, well-being, and the principles of local services and local schools, as well as the child’s right to essential and sufficient early support, are promoted.

The special grant has been used to hire social workers in early childhood education, childminders, and special early childhood education childminders, as well as early childhood education teachers and childminders for pre-primary education, who work in certain daycare centers based on regional indicators. These indicators include, among others, an increased risk of social exclusion in families, different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and the need for children’s support.

Early childhood education in Oulu received special state grants for measures promoting equality in early childhood education and quality development for the years 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023.

The state grant was intended to strengthen changes in the operational culture of early childhood education, inclusion, learning and well-being, equality, equity, interaction, and the principle of local services, as well as to provide immediate and sufficiently early support for the organization of early childhood education for children.

The grant was used to hire early childhood education teachers, social workers, childminders, and group assistants who worked in specific daycare centers based on regional indicators. These indicators included, among others, an increased risk of social exclusion in families, different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and the need for support for children.

With the special grant ‘A Step More Digital Early Childhood Education,’ good pedagogical practices related to digital skills and competencies were developed in early childhood education as part of the ‘New Literacies’ development program. As a result of the grant, seven traveling digital mentors were hired for early childhood education for the year 2023.

The digital mentors primarily worked in municipal and private daycare centers as well as family daycare, guiding and instructing children and staff in the pedagogically appropriate use of digital tools and applications. The digital mentors strengthened digital skills and media literacy by organizing various types of training (both in-person and remote) and preparing both written and video instructions for use in early childhood education. The digital mentors worked closely with the ICT coordinators of the daycare centers, enhancing the ICT coordinators’ knowledge and skills.

Early childhood education in Oulu received special state grants to promote the reform of support in accordance with the Early Childhood Education Act for the years 2022-2023. The project ended on December 31, 2023.

Objectives

1. Supporting the implementation of the reform of support in accordance with the Early Childhood Education Act
2. Strengthening the support received by children and improving the quality of support in early childhood education, promoting the operational, leadership, and collaborative culture of support and inclusion in early childhood education
3. Developing competencies related to the implementation of support in early childhood education
4. Promoting the skills for evaluating the effectiveness of support in early childhood education

Staff employed with the state grant were as follows:

• 4 early childhood special education teachers in full-time special education in regional small groups
• 1 early childhood special education teacher in service guidance for initial assessment of support needs and early childhood education arrangements
• 4 regional early childhood mentor teachers to strengthen high-quality early childhood education and general support, and to embed operational models
• 4 childminders as additional resources for support in development and learning in groups
• 12 childminders substituting staff to ensure participation in training
• Project coordinator for coordinating and developing support tasks and multidisciplinary collaboration

With the additional staff, the inclusive operational culture, learning and well-being, the provision of support close to the child and family, multidisciplinary pedagogical work, and the earlier implementation of support were strengthened.

With the state grant, the staff was developed and trained as follows:

• Developing the competencies of staff related to the themes of support and inclusion is broadly targeted at all professional groups in early childhood education, both in private and municipal settings.
• Training strengthens the development of an inclusive operational culture and shared pedagogical leadership through the collaborative work of special education teachers and leaders.
• Peer mentoring and supervision support the development of professional skills and well-being of staff during changes.
• Training and coordination ensure equality in structures and pedagogical practices at both regional and city levels.

The grant was part of the ‘Right to Learn’ quality and equality development program in early childhood education and its implementation.

State special grant for measures promoting equality and quality development in pre-primary and basic education for the years 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024.

In early childhood education, the task of five childcare workers is to strengthen children’s well-being, participation, and learning of the Finnish language in pre-primary education groups in kindergartens.

Two early childhood education language and culture teachers act as teachers and experts in language and culture-aware early childhood education in pre-primary education groups with many children from immigrant backgrounds.

Objectives

• Co-teaching
• Promoting language and cultural awareness
• Strengthening the learning of the Finnish language
• Transition guidance for children and guardians
• Enhancing information transfer from pre-primary to primary education
• Assessing the need for preparatory education for children with an immigrant background when transitioning to pre-primary and primary education