Ten Pillars of a Good Childhood

A Finnish Perspective

by Lea Pulkkinen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Adapted from a presentation given at the Decade for Childhood 2012-2022 Launch during the Global Summit on Childhood, March 30, 2012, Washington, D.C.  The Decade for Childhood is a joint initiative of the Association for Childhood Education International and the Alliance for Childhood.

If you sow two identical seeds in two different environments, you will have two plants of strikingly different size and strength, but they will still be discernibly the same plants.  While the optimal environment varies from plant to plant, some basic requirements have to be met, such as appropriate watering, for every plant to grow.

Ten Pillars of a Good Childhood

The organizers of the Decade for Childhood 2012-2022¹ have formulated Ten Pillars of a Good Childhood² as basic requirements for an optimal childhood. The pillars can be used to analyze the quality of childhood in our homes and our nations, and to guide policies and practices related to the experience of childhood.

I shall illustrate, pillar by pillar, a few high points about childhood today and also touch on issues that erode childhood, taking examples from Finnish culture.  People have grown interested in the Finnish approach to education and child rearing, due to the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results showing that, for the past decade, 15-year-old Finnish students have been among the highest-performing students in all the 34 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries.

Finnish Lessons

Delegates from different countries have visited Finland to see the Finnish school system and find explanations for the good PISA results.  Less attention has been paid to the impact of the entire childhood experience on students’ success.  Yet the quality of children’s experiences with early education at home and in child care is very important for their future.

In Finland, children start their nine-year basic schooling in the fall of the year when they turn 7.  This is the highest school starting age in the OECD countries.  From the point of view of brain development, age 7 is the proper age to start teacher-directed learning.  Let’s start our look at childhood with the first pillar.