Conference:
ECER 2008
Format:
Paper
Session Information
PRE_C6, Preconference; Paper Session C6
Paper Session
Time:
2008-09-08
13:15-14:45
Room:
B3 334
Chair:
Inga Wernersson
Contribution
The aim of this paper is to analyze who’s interest is served in the municipalities with quality assurance/systematic quality work in preschools. The study analyzes policy documents and focuses on differences and similarities between national and municipal guidelines. The questions at issue are: Who’s interest is served by the guidelines and what is focused on in these policy texts?
The paper is based on a study which aims to evaluate a competence development program initiated by Swedish National Agency for School Improvement named “National support for quality work in pre-school”. The aims of this program are to strengthen the quality assurance work in Swedish municipalities, to enhance the participants’ competence to evaluate quality and goal achievement in preschool.
Since 2005 Swedish preschools are obligated to verifying their quality similar to how it is done in the compulsory schools. This means report quality from guidelines given by The Swedish national agency for education. The report is done by the municipality. Often they use models that are developed for compulsory school focusing on goals to achieve. However, this is problematic as the curriculum for preschools in Sweden only contains of goals to strive at, not to achieve. What is goal achievement in relation to goals to strive at? In order to support the municipalities quality assurance work in preschool the National agency for school improvement started a competence development program in collaboration with universities in Sweden.
The competence development program is evaluated by the University of Gothenburg, and is part of my thesis in process. The theoretical viewpoint is based on interactionistic perspectives in which children learn by experiencing, acting and communicating with the environment, which in turn interacts with them in various ways (Bronfenbrenner 1979, 1986) It is also based on a pedagogical perspective of quality in which four dimensions are used to explain how national laws and guidelines effect quality in preschool (Sheridan 2007).
Method
The data production is based on text analyzes of policy documents that are written by municipalities participating in the competence development program describing their work with quality in preschool. Documents chosen from 13 municipals are being analyzed. The analyze is asking questions to the produced texts, who’s interest is served here? (Ball 2007).
Expected Outcomes
The result can be described as a double process. It means that the preschool teachers both evaluate the preschool quality in relation to the curriculum for preschool and to goals developed by the municipalities. Often, these goals differ. Where the national guidelines have intentions for children’s learning the goals of the municipalities focus on the parents rights for childcare.
References
Ball, J. S. (2007). Education policy and social class. The selected works of Stephen J. Ball. London: Routledge Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development – experiment by nature and design. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University press Sheridan, S. (2007). Dimensions of pedagogical quality in preschool. The international Journal of Early Years Education. 15 (2), 197.217.
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