Supervision of early childhood education and care

The supervisory authorities for early childhood education and care organised and delivered by a municipality or joint municipal authority and a private service provider are the relevant Regional State Administrative Agency and Valvira. In addition, private service providers are supervised by the relevant municipality or joint municipal authority.

Valvira is responsible for the national supervision of early childhood education and care, while Regional State Administrative Agencies supervise operators in their respective regions. Valvira’s role is especially important in matters of principle and in cases that have far-reaching consequences or concern several Regional State Administrative Agencies or the entire country. Valvira also takes over when the Regional State Administrative Agency is not competent to deal with a case. Valvira steers the operations of the Regional State Administrative Agencies. The purpose of this steering is to harmonise the operating principles, procedures and decision-making practices of the Regional State Administrative Agencies. 

The supervisory authorities promote the safety and quality of early childhood education and care primarily by giving guidance and advice to early childhood education and care providers and by tracking their progress. Each local authority is responsible for the organisation, availability and delivery of early childhood education and care in its municipality.

Proactive and reactive supervision

The authorities engage in both proactive and reactive supervision. Proactive supervision includes things such as enforcing of self-monitoring and systematic oversight, granting of permits, registration, guidance, advice and communication. Reactive supervision concerns matters taken up on the basis of complaints, non-conformance reports and other correspondence or information received from other sources (such as the media, statistics and official reports). The various forms of supervision complement each other. Reactive supervision always includes providing guidance, and information about the outcomes and methods of reactive supervision can be used in proactive supervision.

Permit to provide private daycare centre services 

A private service provider organising or delivering early childhood education and care services must obtain a permit to provide private daycare centre services before beginning operations. These permits are granted by the Regional State Administrative Agency upon application. Once the Regional State Administrative Agency has granted the permit, it registers the service provider and its facilities in the Valveri register maintained by Valvira and by the Regional State Administrative Agencies. Guidance on the permit process is available from the relevant Regional State Administrative Agency. You can find the contact information of the Regional State Administrative Agency in your area on the website of the Regional State Administrative Agencies.