Something old, something new, something borrowed: Early childhood education professionals' perceptions of changing culture and emerging practices within the legislative reform on child support

Abstract Legislative changes in education often expand from a reform towards a change in everyday practices. This study deals with the recent early childhood education and care (ECEC) reform in Finland with the aim of examining the changes identified by ECEC professionals in their work. The reform focused on supporting child development and learning in ECEC. Our research material ( N = 135 reflective entries of ECEC professionals) was collected at a regional training event. As a result of applying dialogic thematization, the identified themes were (1) community and individual, (2) balance and imbalance and (3) change as a process. The study highlights that while educational change takes on meaning on a communal and social level, it also creates new subjective meanings for the individual.