A1 Journal article (refereed)
Eriytyvä varhaiskasvatus? : erot yksityisten ja julkisten päiväkotien lähialueissa (2023)
Segregating early childhood education? : differences of the neighborhoods of public and private ECEC centers in Finland

Ruutiainen, V., Paananen, M., & Fjällström, S. (2023). Eriytyvä varhaiskasvatus? : erot yksityisten ja julkisten päiväkotien lähialueissa. Kasvatus, 54(5), 434-449. https://doi.org/10.33348/kvt.142131

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Ruutiainen, Ville; Paananen, Maiju; Fjällström, Salla

Journal or series: Kasvatus

ISSN: 0022-927X

eISSN: 2737-0658

Publication year: 2023

Publication date: 18/12/2023

Volume: 54

Issue number: 5

Pages range: 434-449

Publisher: Suomen kasvatustieteellinen seura

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: Finnish

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33348/kvt.142131

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Delayed open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/92838

Abstract

The number of private early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers has increased during the recent decade in Finland. The clientele of private ECEC consists typically of families whose socioeconomic status (SES) is higher than on average. In this article, we examine how private and public ECEC centers in Finland are located in different types of neighborhoods. The data consisted of ownership and funding data of ECEC centers and municipality as well as zip code based data of the socioeconomic and urban structure of the areas. The data was analyzed using crosstabulation and multinomial logistic regression. The results indicate that private ECEC centers are overrepresented in urban municipalities and inner urban and high SES neighborhoods. Segregation entails also more subtle differences related to the form of ownership and funding. Based on our research, examining the parents’ early childhood education decisions alone is not sufficient to explain the socioeconomic differentiation of the clientele of private and public ECEC centers. The differentiation seems to be explained at least partly by the different locations of the ECEC centers.

Keywords: early childhood education and care; day care; day care centres; private services; public services; municipalities; diversification; regional differences; socioeconomic factors

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2023

JUFO rating: 2