Early Childhood Special Education Teacher

About This Role

This early childhood special education teacher role is for a professional who wants to work in a pleasant, multidisciplinary, diverse, and child-centered environment. The teacher will ensure that the child is at the center of all activities, and that the child's best interests, well-being, equality, and inclusion are realized daily. Every child should feel included and be an active participant as themselves.

Responsibilities

• Observe children's support needs
• Plan, implement, and evaluate support for children in cooperation with group staff
• Participate in the daily activities of children's groups, including modeling and guiding small groups
• Support group staff from a special education perspective
• Participate in discussions with families and various experts
• Plan activities, observe children's support needs, guide and support children in early childhood education and pre-primary education
• Build a special educationally appropriate operating culture and learning environment for the child
• Support the child's individual learning

Requirements

• Eligibility according to the Early Childhood Education Act (540/2018) or, according to the transitional provision (75), eligibility for an early childhood education teacher position, in addition to having completed studies providing professional qualifications for special education tasks, as stipulated by government decree; or a Master's degree in Education with a major in special education (early childhood special education training)
• Recognition decision made by the Finnish National Agency for Education based on foreign education for eligibility for the position applied for
• Good oral and written Finnish language skills
• Present a valid criminal record extract for working with children (504/2002)
• Respiratory tuberculosis certificate for those working with children under school age will be checked (Communicable Diseases Act - 55)

Nice to have:

• Flexible approach to work

Benefits

• Opportunity to influence the building of a new operating culture, values, operating principles, and common structures
• Opportunity to influence the building of an inclusive operating culture from the beginning and to build practices for identifying early support and strengthening child participation as part of the operating culture
• Strong support from the work community
• Pedagogical support from the assistant director
• Personnel benefits from Finland's largest employer, including an Epassi Flex benefit of up to 550 euros for commuting, culture, sports, and well-being services

Important Details

• Schedule: 40 hours per week, flexible

About the Company

This position is for the new early childhood education unit Kontulan Vilinä, located in connection with Kontula primary school at Rintinpolku 4. The new unit will have a total of 11 groups for early childhood education-aged children and three groups for pre-primary education. Kontula is a multicultural, child-friendly, and functionally diverse area with good transport connections, with the metro 600 m away. The daycare center is surrounded by green park areas, opportunities for diverse exercise, and library services. The company encourages anonymous recruitment to promote equality and non-discrimination, focusing on the applicant's professional competence and work experience. The operations are based on Helsinki's early childhood education and pre-primary education plan, the early childhood education unit's action plan, and child-specific plans. In the latest (2025) Fiilari survey, the strengths of the work community were the staff's experience of the meaningfulness of work and job satisfaction.