Excerpts from brochure: Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) covers both the child day care arrangements offered to the families and the goal-oriented early childhood education for children. The framework for the implementation of ECEC is provided by - the Act and Decree on Children's Day Care (1973); - the Government Resolution Concerning the National Policy Definition on Early Childhood Education and Care (2002); - the National Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care in Finland (2003); - the Basic Education Act (1998); - the Core Curriculum for Pre-School Education (2000) Day care in its different forms is the most important area of public ECEC activities. The Finnish ECEC-system consists of municipal and private services. Municipalities must offer day care in the official languages of Finland: Finnish, Swedish and Sàmi.