Perhepäivähoito- ja päiväkoti-instituutio varhaiskasvatuksen kunnallisten viranhaltijoiden puheessa

Based on thematic interviews in ten Finnish municipalities, the study examined the institutions of family day care and kindergartens (day care centres) in the talk of municipal officials (N=42) responsible for early childhood education and care (ECEC). These two institutions are part of the Finnish ECEC system and subject to the same statutory regulations. From the perspective of discursive institutionalism, family day care and kindergartens were understood as social practices the meanings of which emerge and change in the language used in these institutions. The data were analysed discursively, and several discourses about family day care and kindergartens were identified. In these discourses, family day care and kindergartens were conceptualised with different functions
and service users, and despite their common legislation, seen and positioned differently in the field of Finnish ECEC. The study raises the issue of future positions and development of the two ECEC institutions in Finland.