"Swedish day care in Finland is extremely important.

The fact that a child is allowed to speak for their mother tongue is about much more than just language and communication. It's about security and it's about understanding. The mother tongue is a security for every child," Henriksson said in his opening statement. At the turn of the year there were 50 Swedish-speaking children who had not been given kindergarten in Helsinki. Half of them were offered a place in Finnish kindergarten. At the same time, at the end of January there were about 30 vacancies in the Swedish kindergartens in Helsinki.– I convened this discussion to bring together various actors working on education issues and the Swedish in Finland.At the time participated representatives of education providers, the City of Helsinki, interest groups, private actors and a number of Finnish-Swedish funds.– We had a very good and solution-oriented discussion. It is clear that we need flexible solutions for the quality training of child horticulture teachers, support in the form of affordable housing for day care staff and permission to train child leaders at Prakticum. The status of the children's garden teacher profession must also be increased.– The ball is now rolling. I am pleased that there is a broad willingness to seek both short-term and long-term solutions to remedy the lack of labour in early childhood education, Henriksson concludes.