Abstract
With the increasing number of citizens accessing the Internet, governments at all levels around the world have no other choice but to utilize information technology, especially the Internet, to provide improved services to their citizens. This paper studies and analyzes the status and challenges of e-government services within early childhood education context in ten of the largest municipalities in Finland. The study draws upon previous research on e-government stage models and e-government challenges. Our analysis indicates that there is significant development work in progress in the field of early childhood education and e-government in many Finnish municipalities. Many of them have reached relatively mature stage in developing early childhood education e-services. The paper also discusses the challenges municipalities face when they try to implement e-government services. Overall, the paper tries to provide examples and ideas for researchers and practitioners for developing better quality early childhood education e-government services.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
- Early Childhood Education
- Horizontal Integration
- Innovation Adoption
- Large Municipality
- Public Online Service
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
J.R. Gil-Garcia and I.J. Martinez-Moyano, Understanding the evolution of e- government: The influence of systems of rules on public sector dynamics, Government Information Quarterly, Vol.24 (2007), pp. 266-290.
M.M. Kamal, IT innovation adoption in the government sector: identifying the critical success factors, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Vol. 19 (2006), No. 2, pp. 192-222.
K. Harjuhahto-Madetoja, V.-V. Ahonen, and S. Hyvärinen, Suomalaista tietoyhteiskuntaa rakentamassa - Hallituksen tietoyhteiskuntaohjelma 2003-2007. 2007, Finnish Government: Helsinki.
4. OECD, E-Government in Finland: An Assessment. 2003, Geneve: OECD.
5. Accenture, eGovernment Leadership: High Performance, Maximum Value. The Government Executive Series. 2004: Accenture.
6. Accenture, Leadership in Customer Service: Delivering on the Promise. Government Executive Series. 2007: Accenture.
M.P. Gupta and D. Jana, E-government evaluation: A framework and case study, Government Information Quarterly, Vol.20 (2003), pp. 365-387.
K. Layne and J. Lee, Developing fully functional E-government: A four stage model, Government Information Quarterly, Vol. 18 (2001), No. 2, pp. 122-136.
Benchmarking E-Government: A Global Perspective. 2002: United Nations and American Society for Public Administration.
J. Hiller and F. Bélanger, eds. Privacy Strategies for Electronic Government. E- government 2001, ed. M.A. Abramson and G.E. Means. 2001, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers: Lanham, MD.
M.J. Moon, The Evolution of E-Government among Municipalities: Rhetoric or Reality?, Public Administration Review, Vol. 62 (2002), No. 4, pp. 424-433.
H. Chen, Digital Government: technologies and practices, Decision Support Systems, Vol. 34 (2002), No. 3, pp. 223-227.
OECD, The e-government imperative: main findings. 2003, Geneve: OECD.
Day care Act, in 36/1973. Day care Act 36/1973.
OECD, Starting Strong II. Early Childhood Education and Care. 2006, OECD Publishing.
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Decision in Principle of the Council of State Concerning the National Policy Definition on Early Childhood Education and Care. 2002: Helsinki.
N. Färkkilä, T. Kahiluoto, and M. Kivistö, Report on the situation of children's daycare. September 2005. Reports of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. 2006, Helsinki: Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
R.K. Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Second ed. Applied Social Research Methods Series, ed. D.S. Foster. 1994, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
S. Mäntylä, Lapsiperheet, IT ja tasa-arvo. Esiselvitys. 2003, City of Tampere: Tampere.
M. Veikkolainen and P. Hämäläinen, Sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon henkilöstön tieto- ja viestintätekniikan koulutus- ja oppimateriaalitarve ja koulutuksen kehittämisen haasteet. 2006, Stakes: Helsinki.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 International Federation for Information Processing
About this paper
Cite this paper
Vahtera, A. (2008). e-Government in the Finnish Early Childhood Education: An Analysis of Current Status and Challenges. In: Oya, M., Uda, R., Yasunobu, C. (eds) Towards Sustainable Society on Ubiquitous Networks. IFIP – The International Federation for Information Processing, vol 286. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85691-9_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85691-9_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-85690-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-85691-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)