Pedagogical curricula and the six themes

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The curriculum is the daycare's written description of how it will work with children's wellbeing, learning, development and formation. It builds on a common pedagogical foundation – including the view of the child, the importance of play and how child communities are supported – and on the six legally established themes. Each daycare decides for itself how the curriculum should look concretely and be used in everyday life so it makes sense locally; but the themes and the pedagogical foundation are the same throughout the country.

• 01Comprehensive personal development – the child's growing experience of themselves and of being able to participate.
• 02Social development – the ability to participate in communities and act together with others.
• 03Communication and language – language develops in close relationships, in communities and together with the educational staff.
• 04Body, senses and movement – the child is in the world through the body; here the foundation for physical and mental wellbeing is laid.
• 05Nature, outdoor life and science – curiosity about nature, weather, animals and the first wonderings about how the world fits together.
• 06Culture, aesthetics and community – encounters with art, traditions and different forms of expression.

The curriculum is not a checklist you tick off – it is a lens you can see your everyday through. When you sing a song in the bathroom, you are working with language. When you help two children agree on a toy car, you are working with social development. When you go for a walk in the forest and find snails, you are working with nature and science. Your task is not to invent new activities for each theme every day, but to be aware of which themes ordinary everyday life already contains – and use that awareness to make the activities even more meaningful.

An important part of the pedagogical foundation is child perspective: childhood has value in itself and children should experience being seen, heard and understood. It connects with the concept of child perspective — that as staff you try to understand a situation from the child's point of view not just the adult's. When you observe a child withdrawing from play the professional approach is to ask yourself how the world looks right now for that particular child before you act.

The curriculum must also be evaluated continuously, and the educational supervision checks whether the day-care facility actually works according to it. As an educational assistant, you contribute to that evaluation, among other things through your observations and practice narratives – short, concrete descriptions of what happened in a given situation, and what it tells about the child's well-being and development.

“The curriculum comes alive only when it can be recognised in everyday life — in song, play and walks in the forest.”