Parents are very satisfied with Kotka’s early childhood education and care

27.1.2025 | Parents of children in day-care centres in Kotka are very satisfied with the early childhood education offered by the city.

This is the result of a recent customer survey conducted last November among child carers. A total of 401 carers responded to the survey, which assessed early childhood education services and activities in 2024. The response rate was 22.96%.

The overall impression is very positive. The average response rate for the survey as a whole was 4.50/5, which is in line with customer surveys conducted in recent years (autumn 2023 AVG4.45/5). The overall rating of the quality of the early childhood education and care centre given by parents is 4.6 (AVG 4.5 in 2023).

The early childhood education and care customer survey consists of the early childhood education service guidance questionnaire, the e-care questionnaire, the cooperation questionnaire, the child involvement questionnaire and the group membership questionnaire. The questionnaire is also aimed at pre-school, family day care and private early childhood education. The implementation of the statements is assessed by carers on the basis of their own experience. The results of the questionnaire are used to identify the strengths and areas for improvement of early childhood education and care services and activities.

The early childhood education customer survey is based on a set of indicators based on quality criteria for early childhood education. The survey also includes a statement on equal treatment of families in early childhood education and care. Respondents were also given the opportunity to comment and suggest improvements on issues they would like to raise.

The survey revealed that the city’s strengths in early childhood education include equal treatment of families. Carers feel that the staff are professional and that this is reflected in their work.

In the area of child participation, the strengths are that adults provide opportunities for children to move and that physical activity is visible in the daily life of the units. The carers feel that the child is genuinely encountered and is close to an adult.

The strength of ‘child as part of a group’ is that the child feels safe in the early childhood education and care setting. Early childhood education and care supports the child’s positive self-image.

Areas for development based on the survey include: investing in arrival and departure situations, raising the awareness of substitutes of the importance of meeting the child and caregivers, establishing a harmonised initial interview practice, following the child’s child notification guidelines, following the child’s agreed upon story telling in the child’s child notification, documenting the construction of the child’s play environment systematically, strengthening the role of children through adult activity in the construction of the play environment, and clear and timely information.

The areas for improvement identified in the survey are discussed by unit or activity in parent-teacher conferences, in the context of drawing up child early childhood education plans, in staff meetings and at unit development days. The customer survey is used alongside other ECEC evaluation tools in the development of ECEC and in strengthening staff competences.