Critical perspectives on Danish early childhood education and care: between the technical and the political

Abstract

This paper discusses trends in contemporary Danish early childhood education and care (ECEC). Data are various policy documents, along with material from ongoing research projects in which the authors are involved. It is claimed that contemporary policy on Danish day care services has a tendency to emphasize narrow curriculum improvements and standardized testing. The democratic dimensions are still relatively strong, but at the moment these dimensions are interpreted within a skills-and-testing framework, which is leading to a situation where the political masquerades as the technical.Keywords: Denmark; policy; day care services; curriculum; social pedagogyThe claims and viewpoints in this paper are linked to research projects and paradigms that we, as a research unit, are currently involved in. We will start by sketching this material to provide a research context for the debate that follows.Two distinct approaches to early childhood education and care can be identified (OECD, 2001(OECD, , 2006: the early education approach and the social pedagogy approach.The early education approach generally results in a more centralizing and academic strategy towards curriculum content and methodology, while the social pedagogy tradition remains more local, child-centered and holistic.Broström (Broström, 2002(Broström, , 2006a(Broström, , 2006b(Broström, , 2009b) is working to develop a possible new paradigm in early childhood education and care. Departing from a traditional Danish perspective of social pedagogy, Broström is reaching for curriculum objectives such as children's all-round personal development, well-being, participation and critical thinking by bridging the concepts of care, upbringing and teaching into a critical framework oriented towards education for democracy. He does not shrink from understanding his proposal for an ECEC curriculum theory in relation to the teaching of con- Aarhus University 3 THE DANISH SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, AARHUS UNIVERSITY -THE RESEARCH UNIT OF CHILDHOOD, LEARNING AND CURRICULUM STUDIES tent, and thus points toward the early education position, but at the same time, he brings care and children's perspectives to the forefront. This rethinking of the social pedagogy approach is consistent with the policy statements made by the Danish committee on starting school (Skolestartsudvalget, 2006), and both challenges day care professionals to reflect on curriculum theory and challenges primary school teachers to maintain and nurture a caring dimension in their teaching practices. Department of Curriculum Research The Danish School of EducationRecent developments in several fields of research including social and cultural psychology, critical sociology and neuropsychology suggest that young children are biologically prepared for life and yet they are shaped by and completed through each person's active participation in socio-cultural environments and activities (Bråten, 2009; Stern, 2004) This provides postmodern research with the following ground rules: 1) To conduct rese...

Nordic Comparative Analysis of Guidelines for Quality and Content in Early Childhood Education

“…But the uncertainty about the nature of the goals makes it more likely that national goals for preschools to work towards may, at the municipal and local levels, be interpreted and transformed into goals that must be achieved by individuals. This is something that can also be manifest in municipal standards, as shown in various studies (cf Hjort, 2008;Jensen, Broström & Hansen, 2010;Johansson, 2010;Pettersvold & Østrem, 2012;. In Sweden, for example, age-normed language screening of individual children (assessment of what individual children may achieve in language development related to a predetermined and age-related norm) may be interpreted as incompatible with national goals to work towards for the institution, wherein children should not be compared to a norm or to anyone other than themselves.…”

“…Researchers are seeking theoretical and practical approaches that unite the concepts of care, upbringing and education in relation to the globalised challenge (Jensen, Broström & Hansen, 2010). The analysis of the guidelines indicates that the Nordic countries, to various degrees, are struggling with this and have not really managed to unite these concepts; instead, they are choosing paths in some way.…”

“…According to Jensen, Broström and Hansen (2010) the democratic dimension is still relatively strong in Danish ECE, but at present is interpreted within a framework of test and skills orientation (such as key competences). Political discussions of the content of the ECE curriculum and how it should be put into practice in care and teaching processes are framed by management based on optimising pedagogical practices in relation to standardised goals and outcomes.…”

“…When national goals are transformed to the local level, other influences can be traced through the occurrence of formulated competence indicators and individual-oriented assessments (Hjort, 2008;Jensen, Broström & Hansen, 2010;Johansson, 2010;Vallberg Roth, 2011b;Østrem 2010). Broström (2012) formulates a curriculum approach that combines a Bildung oriented criticalconstructive Didaktik 3 , influenced by Wolfgang Klafki, with postmodern ideals, influenced by Karen Barad, Gilles Deleuze, Gunilla Dahlberg and Hillevi Lenz Taguchi.…”

“…Comparative studies of ECE are a neglected field of research in general and comparative studies among the Nordic countries are of particular interest because the curriculum approach and guidelines are undergoing similar development in these countries (Åsén & Vallberg Roth, 2012). There is a need for research that focuses on the characteristics of the Nordic ECE model with lines of development significant to content and quality in early childhood education (cf Bennett, 2010;Björk Eydal, 2012;Einarsdóttir & Wagner, 2006;Gulløv, 2012;Jensen, Broström & Hansen, 2010;Karila, 2012;Kjørholt & Qvortrup, 2012;Strandell, 2011).…”