This Act lays down provisions on the rights of a child to early childhood education and care (ECEC), the organisation and provision of early childhood education and care, and the data repository for early childhood education and care.
Early childhood education and care is provided as:
The Act lays down provisions on comprehensive school education and compulsory education, pre-primary education, voluntary additional comprehensive school education, preparatory education for comprehensive school education, and morning and afternoon activities.
(Source: Website - Key legislation on general education).
Entities responsible for implementation: Ministry of Education and Culture.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is responsible for the preparation of the legislation on child welfare and for the general steering of child welfare services. The Child Welfare Act safeguards children’s rights and provisions on child welfare are laid down in the Child Welfare Act. Provisions on the rights of children are laid down in the Constitution of Finland. Furthermore, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are also binding on Finland.
The objectives of the Act is to promote young people’s social inclusion and opportunities for exerting an influence; improve their skills and capabilities to function in society; support their growth, independence and sense of community and facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, adoption of skills and pursuit of free-time hobbies and activities in civic society; as well as to promote non-discrimination and realisation of civic rights while improving young people’s growth and living conditions.
Media literacy in Finland is the media literacy policy and the national media education policy document, published by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2019. The document updates and extends the cultural policy guidelines for media literacy published in 2013.
The National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme is a horizontal programme, which the Government adopts every four years with the aim of promoting a good environment for young people to grow up and live. In the Programme, the Government defines its youth policy objectives and the measures to achieve them. The Programme also outlines youth work, including the priorities for the selection of national centers of excellence in the youth sector for this programme period, and sets Finland's national objectives for European and international activities in the youth sector.
The goal of the New Literacy development program is to strengthen children's and young people's media literacy, information and communication technology (ICT) skills, and programming skills in early childhood education and preschool and basic education.
In the fall of 2020, the Ministry of Education and Culture launched the New Literacy Development Program for the years 2020-2023, and it is part of the Ministry's broader Right to Learn development program.
Relevant sections of the Criminal Code cover various aspects on online child sexual abuse and exploitation, namely:
(Source: Criminal Code)
The instructional principles for inclusive media literacy help media educators in different fields to reflect and find ways to improve their own practice. Below you will find a PDF and a video series for your convenience. More than 100 professionals developing and implementing media literacy or media-related skills in their own practice have been consulted in the process of creating the instructional principles. The principles are based on a survey and individual interviews of professionals.
This Act provides for the obligations and functions of state and local government agencies and the officials thereof, legal persons in public and private law and natural persons upon ensuring the rights and well-being of children, the organisation of child protection, the prohibitions and restrictions established for persons working with children, the principles of treatment of children, the principles of treatment of children in need of assistance, children in danger and children separated from family, the state supervision over compliance with this Act and the liability for violation of t
