Running a successful preschool today is no longer just about loving children or having good teachers. Preschool owners are expected to deliver visible, measurable learning outcomes, adhere to national curriculum frameworks, support teachers, satisfy parents, and still run a profitable business.

At the same time, expectations from parents are rising. They want assurance that their child is learning meaningfully—not just completing worksheets. They want transparency, modern teaching methods, and a school that feels professional and trustworthy.

This is where a curriculum partnership model is becoming increasingly relevant.

The Challenge Most Preschools Face

Many preschools try to manage everything on their own:

• Designing lesson plans
• Training teachers
• Creating teaching materials
• Handling parent communication
• Preparing for audits and reviews
• Marketing the school effectively

Over time, this leads to:

• Inconsistent teaching quality across classrooms
• Heavy dependency on individual teachers
• Teacher burnout and high staff turnover
• Difficulty scaling to multiple branches
• Confused or dissatisfied parents

What school owners often need is one clear, structured system that brings everything together—without turning their preschool into a generic franchise.

A Different Approach: The Kindiedays Curriculum Partnership

Part 2/6 in a series by Kindiedays co-founder Jessi van der Burgh.

What It Means and Why It Works

Finland is widely recognised for its high-quality education system, and this reputation begins in early childhood education. One of the key practices supporting quality in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) is pedagogical documentation.

In Finland, pedagogical documentation is not an administrative task or a way to prove compliance. It is a practical pedagogical tool that helps educators understand children’s learning, reflect on their own practice, and ensure that education supports the whole child.

Understanding how pedagogical documentation is used in the Finnish context clarifies why it works—and how its principles can be applied elsewhere.

How Finland understands early childhood education

Finnish early childhood education is based on a few core principles:

• Children are active participants in their own learning
• Learning happens through play, interaction, and everyday experiences
• Education supports the whole child — socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively
• Quality depends on reflection, not control

Pedagogical documentation supports these principles by helping educators observe learning in real time and respond thoughtfully.

What pedagogical documentation means in Finland

Part 1/6 in a series by Kindiedays co-founder Jessi van der Burgh.

Early childhood education is full of learning moments — but many of them are easy to miss.

Young children do not learn by completing worksheets or giving the right answers. They learn while building, talking, exploring, negotiating, pretending, and playing. Much of this learning is invisible unless we stop to notice it.

Pedagogical documentation exists for this reason. It helps educators recognise, understand, and support children’s learning in a meaningful way. It is not an extra task or a formality. It is a core part of high-quality early childhood education.

What is pedagogical documentation?

Pedagogical documentation is the process of:

• Observing children in everyday situations
• Recording meaningful moments of learning
• Reflecting on what these moments tell us
• Using this understanding to guide future practice

It focuses on learning processes, not just activities or outcomes.

Instead of asking “What did we do today?”, pedagogical documentation asks:

• What did children learn here?
• What were they interested in?
• How did they think, interact, and problem-solve?

Why documentation is essential in early childhood education

1. Much of children’s learning is invisible

Originally published January 21, 2025 — republished with updates for 2026

When we refer to the best preschool practices from Finland, many customers ask us about the background and research evidence for Finnish ECEC and Kindiedays Curriculum Partnership, and how it compares to NEP2020.

Kindiedays Co-founder Jessi van der Burgh provided a concise summary of Finland’s National Curriculum, including its historical and philosophical underpinnings, the key elements that make it effective, and how it compares with well-known pedagogical approaches such as Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, and the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky.

👉 As an additional benefit, we now included a comparison between Finland's Curriculum and India's NEP 2020 vision based on practical work with preschools in both countries by Kindiedays CEO Milla van der Burgh.

1. Philosophical and Theoretical Influences

While Finland does not strictly follow any single branded methodology (like Montessori or Waldorf), it incorporates insights and best practices from various educational philosophers and theorists:

• Jean Piaget (1896–1980): Emphasized the importance of child-centered learning and the idea that children construct knowledge through hands-on experiences.
• Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934): Stressed the social context of learning, with a particular focus on language, interaction, and the “zone of proximal development,” where adults or peers scaffold children’s education to help them reach higher levels of understanding.

Finland’s ECEC also appreciates the value of creativity and independence found in methods like Montessori, the emphasis on holistic development in Waldorf, and the project-based, community-centered principles of Reggio Emilia. However, Finnish ECEC integrates these perspectives into a distinctive approach, guided by national curricula and robust teacher training.

2. Finland’s Early Childhood Education

Key concepts:

Hi,

I’m Stella Giota, Education Specialist at Kindiedays, and I’ll be leading the next Kindiedays Academy cohort starting Saturday, January 16th.

I’m sending this to you because many private preschools I speak with—owners, principals, and academic coordinators—want the same outcomes:

• Parents who are impressed and confident (not constantly questioning “what is my child learning?”)
• Teachers who stay longer because they feel skilled, supported, and proud of their work
• A classroom culture that looks and feels modern, child-centered, and joyful—without losing structure, routines, or school readiness

But there’s a common gap: teachers often receive activity ideas, yet they haven’t been trained to consistently and high-quality implement playful, experiential learning. 

That is precisely what Kindiedays Academy solves.

What Kindiedays Academy is (and why it works)

Kindiedays Academy is a 10-workshop professional development program that builds teaching skills step by step—from learning environment and language development to STEM, art, community learning, parent partnerships, and documentation.

Every workshop includes:

• Live teaching (never pre-recorded)
• Real examples from Finnish classrooms
• Hands-on participation (you will practice, not just listen)
• Open discussion + Q&A and problem-solving
• Practical implementation tasks to try with children

Importantly, after every workshop, teachers receive an assignment to implement with children and receive feedback—so the training becomes a real classroom change, not “one more webinar.”

If someone misses a session, they can also attend the same workshop in the next cohort at no extra cost.

At the end of the program, each participant receives a Kindiedays Academy Diploma in Finnish Early Childhood Pedagogy, recognizing both learning and practical application.

What’s in the 10 workshops

Here’s the journey your teachers (and academic team) will go through:

Summary text above this line. Drag to move.

1. The Strength of Finnish Early Education — principles, the EduCare model, daily schedules, child-centered teaching, playful learning foundations, and partnership with parents.
2. Learning Environment Setup — learning corners, intentional materials, and turning the classroom into the “third teacher”.
3. Linguistic Development through Play — vocabulary, communication, and playful language strategies.
4. Phonics — the alphabetic code, core phonics skills, blending/segmenting, and hands-on techniques.
5. Diverse Expression Skills (Art) — moving beyond copy-paste crafts into meaningful, open-ended expression.
6. Community Studies through Play — culture, diversity, ethics, worldview, emotional awareness, and hands-on community learning
7. Parents as Partners — building trust, communication, and bringing families into the learning journey.
8. STEM through Play — inquiry-based learning, playful experiments, simple engineering, and math in daily routines.
9. Growth & Movement through Play — physical development, indoor/outdoor activity, food education, safety routines.
10. Planning, Documentation & Assessment — holistic lesson planning, documentation methods, assessment tools, and using digital tools to track learning.

Together, these workshops create a consistent teaching approach across the entire preschool (rather than relying on a single enthusiastic teacher to try something new on their own).

Benefits for both educators and owners

For teachers and academic coordinators, Academy helps you:

• Build practical skills in playful, child-centered learning
• Integrate modern curriculum into daily routines (without confusion)
• Feel motivated and confident as professionals

For owners, the impact shows up in business outcomes too:

• Stronger educational quality (that parents can see and feel)
• A healthier team culture and improved teacher retention
• Higher parent satisfaction and trust

What participants say

One Academic Coordinator from Mumbai shared after sessions with us:
Kindiedays’ training “left a lasting impression… inspiring us to embrace the possibilities of Finnish pedagogy.”

A Curriculum Developer from Delhi noted that teachers gained “practical tools and fresh perspectives” to integrate Finnish pedagogy into daily learning experiences.

Cohort details

Join now:

• Start date: Saturday, January 16th
• Timing:
  • 🇮🇳 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM IST
  • 🇫🇮 11:30 AM - 2:00 PM EET
• Format: 10 interactive live online workshops, 2.5 hours each, with homework and application
• Fee: 150 EUR or 15,000 INR per teacher for the full program
• Payment: credit/debit card (limited seats)

How to enroll (quick and simple)

If you’re a preschool owner, I recommend enrolling your Academic Coordinator + Key Teachers. That combination creates faster preschool-wide impact.

If your preschool is ready to move toward joyful, experiential, child-centered learning, Kindiedays Academy is the most practical first step. 

👉 Send an email to me at stella@kindiedays.com , and I will contact you to sign up your team!

I’d love to see you (and your team) in the Next Academy.

Warmly,
Stella Giota, stella@kindiedays.com
Education Specialist, Kindiedays

PS Download the Full Program and SIGN UP HERE