Reader’s opinion|Having worked as an early childhood education teacher for about 30 years, I have felt in my skin the lack of appreciation of the field with its empty promises.
If the current government’s planned export-led wage model will come true, I feel betrayed.
Having worked as an early childhood education teacher for about 30 years, I have felt the lack of appreciation of the field with its empty promises and gentlemen’s agreements. Salaries have always fallen behind, and in the past no one properly took our side in negotiations, not always even our own union. Except, finally, in 2022, a salary program for the municipal sector was obtained, which would enable salaries in the municipal sector to develop even to the average salary level. Now this program is also in danger.
Daycare is not just a place where children are kept while parents work. There, versatile developmental activities and care are offered. Children are taught good manners, equality and caring for the environment. Delays and challenges in the child’s development are noticed and they can be addressed in time.
Early childhood education gives you good snacks for school and life. The society of the future is being built there. For all of this, educators need sufficient training, which early childhood education teachers have many years of higher education. They also need to eat, live and maybe start a family. The salary is not enough for these, at least in the capital region. It’s no wonder that there is a crying shortage of qualified employees in the industry.
I too will go to other jobs or early retirement if the export-led salary model comes true!
Kaisa Suhonen
early childhood education teacher, Helsinki
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