Children’s schooling should form a continuous whole so that children’s experiences and learning at previous school levels are useful to them at the next school level. Completing preschool education and starting compulsory school involves changes for children and their families. It is important that learning and upbringing in compulsory school is based on children’s previous experiences and learning, in order to create security for them and new learning opportunities. In this way, the knowledge and subjects that children were dealing with in preschool need to become the foundation on which compulsory school education is based, while at the same time they are given the opportunity to tackle challenging tasks and gain new experiences.

If children are to make a successful transition from preschool to primary school, they need to be well prepared before and after they finish preschool. Preschool children should be given the opportunity to become familiar with the environment and work of primary school while they are still in preschool and to maintain a good relationship with the preschool after they start primary school. Children’s last year in preschool and their first year in primary school should be seen as an important part of children’s lifelong education.

At the end of preschool, various pieces of information are available about the children. To ensure that the previous learning and experience of preschool children are built on and that their primary school education is as good as possible, it is expected that certain information about each child, which is necessary for their well-being and development, will accompany them to primary school. Parents are important contacts between the school levels who can share information about their children and their preschool education. They also have the right to be informed about the data that follows the child from preschool to primary school and to be given the opportunity to respond to it. Efforts should be made to ensure that children are also given the opportunity to express their views on the data and information that follows them between school levels.

The preschool-compulsory school relationship is a collaborative project between children, parents, teachers and other staff at both school levels, where the child, their well-being, development and education are the focus. Teachers at both school levels should familiarise themselves with each other’s learning and working methods, seek ways to develop collaboration and create continuity in children’s learning with the aim of increasing children’s self-confidence and supporting their learning. The goals, arrangements and structure of collaboration and relationships between school levels must be explained in the school curriculum of each preschool.