Give feedback on early childhood education

We welcome all feedback on municipal early childhood education to develop our activities. We also monitor the quality of our activities and the level of client satisfaction through regular client surveys.

You can give feedback directly to our staff or through our feedback service. You can find the online feedback service here.(external link, opens in a new window) If you wish to give feedback on private early childhood education, please contact the service provider or the manager of the day care centre in question.

Every child has the right to safe and high-quality early childhood education. However, guardians sometimes have questions about early childhood education or are not satisfied with it. In such situations, we recommend that you start by contacting the employees or manager of your child’s early childhood education unit.

If you are unable to resolve an issue through discussions with the staff of the early childhood education unit, you can submit an objection (Act on Early Childhood Education and Care, section 54). You should submit the objection to the manager of the early childhood education unit, the person in charge of the unit or the senior office-holder of early childhood education.

Objections concerning municipal and outsourced early childhood education are submitted to the City of Espoo. Objections concerning private early childhood education (early childhood education units receiving private day care allowance or accepting service vouchers) must be primarily submitted to the person in charge of the unit or to the representative of the service provider.

You can use a special form to submit an objection. The form can be found on this page (Finnish-speaking early childhood education) or on this page (Swedish-speaking early childhood education). You can also submit an objection as a free-form letter.

Describe in detail the matter(s) with which you are not satisfied. There is no time limit for submitting an objection, but we recommend that you submit it as soon as possible to make it easier for us to investigate the matter.

Address the objection to the City of Espoo if it is related to municipal or outsourced early childhood education. Send the completed form or your free-form letter by email to kirjaamo@espoo.fi or by post to: City of Espoo Registry Office, P.O. Box 1, 02070 City of Espoo. If your objection contains confidential information (e.g. information about your child’s health or support measures), we recommend that you do not send it by email.

If your objection is related to an early childhood education unit that receives private day care allowance or to a service voucher day care centre, you should address the objection to the manager of the day care centre in question or to the service provider.

The City of Espoo processes objections within one month. However, processing may take longer during the holiday season, for example. If we need a longer time to investigate the matter, we will inform you of the expected processing time.

After looking into your objection, we will send you a response that describes how we investigated the matter and what follow-up measures we have taken. You cannot appeal against the response given to your objection.

If you are not satisfied with the response given to your objection, you can file a complaint with the supervisory authority (Regional State Administrative Agency or Valvira). With regard to private early childhood education, you can also contact the City of Espoo’s Early Childhood Education Unit, as it monitors the operations of private early childhood education services under the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care. If necessary, the city can launch a separate monitoring process concerning a private service provider.

Read more about filing an objection or complaint on the Valvira website.(external link, opens in a new window)