| Summary: | This research examines the educational system in Finland and how it involves
and implements the arts in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The
study explores the understanding and practice of art integration from ECEC
teachers’ perspectives and experiences. In addition to these perceptions, a series
of observations were made to support this understanding.
This qualitative study involved observations in two daycare centers in a
rural and urban municipality and semi-structured interviews with five Finnish
ECEC teachers. Three teachers were interviewed in the rural setting along with
observations, and in the urban setting two teachers were interviewed followed
with observations in one ECEC center. The data was analyzed according to
thematic analysis with an inductive approach.
The findings suggest that art integration is a common practice and mostly
recognized by the ECEC teachers, but from a lack of knowledge with the arts
proved to result in a challenge with the integrational aspects. However, arts
integration did result in the learning and development in young children and a
start for subject mixture.
This study intends to show how the role and impact of the arts in the field
of education, specifically in ECEC, would lead into the teaching of the arts and
other disciplines through interdisciplinary learning methods for children as they
grow and develop. This work observes a small area in art integration as it is
conducted in the country of Finland, but this research could possibly inspire
other curricula in other countries.
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