"Finland is a professional reference point for me" – recruitment of early childhood education teachers from abroad to expand

The number of applicants for the City of Helsinki's early childhood education positions has increased in recent years. However, the staff situation is still challenging for highly educated professionals both in Helsinki and at the national level.

One of the measures with which Helsinki is addressing the challenge is the recruitment of highly educated early childhood education teachers from abroad. The procedure is part of the alliance work between Finland’s six biggest cities in and the state, where solutions are being sought to tackle the lack of highly educated professionals in early childhood education.  

New teachers will start working in Finnish-language daycare centres in Helsinki in January 2026.

Getting to know the Finnish language and culture

The 20 early childhood education teachers selected for the process have started training in their home country, which prepares them for working in daycare centres in Helsinki.

The teachers study Finnish for nine months. The training in their home country also includes other content, such as studying the special features of Finnish early childhood education and working life.

“The recruitment process was clear and straightforward, which helped a lot”, says Alvaro, who was selected for the training.

“At the beginning of the course, I was a bit scared of the complexity of Finnish. However, after studying it for a few weeks, I now see it as a beautiful challenge.”

Voluntary daycare centres included

The aim of the training period is that the teachers find employment in daycare centres around Helsinki. Twelve volunteer daycare centres are involved, which are spread across Helsinki’s early childhood education districts.

A pilot for recruiting employees from abroad for Swedish-language early childhood education was implemented in 2024. New teachers, their work partners, and daycare centre managers all viewed the pilot's experiences as positive.

The teachers’ professional competence has been found to be strong and their command of Swedish fluent when working with children. The teachers themselves have enjoyed their work.

Based on the experiences, many Finnish-language daycare centres have had the courage to join the new recruitment round with enthusiasm.

“I already heard good things about the experiment when I was working as a daycare centre manager in a Swedish-language daycare centre,” says Pamela Valtonen, head of Daycare Humikkala-Viekko unit in the East Helsinki disctrict.

“This is a good opportunity to find trained teachers that are needed in our unit.”

According to Valtonen, recruiting from abroad has also been a learning experience from the manager’s point of view.

“The experience has challenged my own skills as a recruiting manager, and I have learned a lot about recruiting,” says Valtonen.

“We are already a diverse work community, and we hope, of course, that new teachers will bring not only their own expertise and professional skills to our unit, but also new insights.”

Strong professional competence

According to Valtonen, the comprehensive background work carried out by Education Division HR convinced the daycare centre managers that getting involved in the experiment is worth it.

The Spanish early childhood education teacher’s degree largely meets Finland's educational requirements. The new teachers have strong pedagogical skills, with which the daycare centre managers have been pleased.

“All those selected for the interview were qualified teachers, and many of the applicants also had extensive additional education or even a master’s degree,” Valtonen says.

“We were also reassured by the fact that the Finnish early childhood education and education system is valued in Spain.”

Laid-back lifestyle and learning at one’s own pace

The early childhood education teachers selected for the process praise Finnish pedagogy and the lifestyle in Helsinki.

“Finland has been a professional reference point for me since I studied at the Faculty of Education at the University of Madrid”, says Alvaro.

Other teacher Erika fell in love with Finland already during student exchange when she was studying at university. When a friend working in Finland sent her a job advertisement, Erika realised that her opportunity had come.

“Helsinki is not so busy, and being there felt relaxing – like a home,” Erika thinks.

According to Erika, the unhurried pace also shows in the world of education.

“In Finland, children’s needs are genuinely respected, and their individual learning rhythms are taken into account.”

Project to be continued

Helsinki is constantly developing various measures to ensure that new teachers have the best possible start to their work.

The Education Division coaches daycare centre managers and employees in language-conscious work and diversity management in accordance with city-level language principles for work communities.

The recruitment process always includes language training that will continue in Finland as well as support finding housing and settling in.

Helsinki will start a second recruitment project for Finnish-language early childhood education in autumn 2025. The aim is to recruit about 20 teachers who will start working in daycare centres in August 2026.

Finland's six biggest cities are aiming to recruit around 8,000 new highly educated early childhood education staff by 2032.

In addition to recruiting from abroad, the aim is to attract new higher education graduates by increasing the number of student places in universities, building an on-demand training model for early childhood education workers, developing job placement services and improving the job description of social pedagogues in early childhood education.