Operating as a pre-primary education service provider

In Espoo, pre-primary education services are procured through a dynamic supplier register in accordance with the Public Procurement Act. The procurement process can be opened to new service providers if necessary. The city’s Procurement Centre is responsible for the procurement process.

If you as a service provider are interested in joining the dynamic supplier register for pre-primary education, you can request more information from the city’s Procurement Centre (hankinta@espoo.fi).

Pre-primary education service providers entered in the dynamic supplier register have concluded an agreement with the city. The agreement is valid until further notice. The agreement contains detailed descriptions of the implementation of pre-primary education, the obligations of service providers, and the processes involved.

Espoo’s Finnish Early Childhood Education Unit plans and assesses the need for pre-primary education places for the following school year in the autumn of the previous year. The preparation work involves anticipating the need for pre-primary education places in different areas.

In our assessment, we use statistics on the number of 5-year-old children attending both municipal and private early childhood education. The assessment is based on the number of children on 20 September. The Growth and Learning Committee decides annually in October–November which service providers’ units entered in the register will provide pre-primary education in the following school year.

The Finnish Education and Early Education Committee decided on 28 October 2010 that the service network for pre-primary education will be developed according to service needs. Therefore, we will select units where the number of pre-primary-aged children is expected to be at least 10 for several years to come.

Exceptions include:

• Montessori education: The minimum group size is 5 children if the group is formed according to the principle of four age-level groups. (Decision of the Finnish Education and Early Education Committee, 28 October 2010, item 6)
• Foreign-language pre-primary education and language immersion education: The minimum group size is 8 children. The basis for this is the continuity of the educational path and the operating conditions of pre-primary education units. (Decision of the Finnish Education and Early Education Committee, 23 October 2013, item 209)
• Steiner education: The minimum group size is 5 children. (Decision of the Finnish Education and Early Education Committee, 7 October 2020, item 144)

When a child’s right to pre-primary education begins, guardians must enrol their child in pre-primary education by filling in the online application in the eVaka service. The application period for pre-primary education is annually in January. The Early Childhood Education Service Guidance Unit processes all applications, after which the committee decides on the details related to pre-primary education places in February–March.