The limitations of multiculturalism in Norwegian early childhood education

Abstract

Under the Kindergarten Act, every child in Norway has the right to attend a publicly funded kindergarten, and around 90 per cent of Norwegian children aged between one and five do so (see Kindergarten Act, section 12a and Framework Plan for the Content and Tasks of Kindergartens 2011). Admittedly, the proportion of children from immigrant backgrounds attending kindergartens is considerably less (under 60 per cent), but overall, most children in Norway today attend a kindergarten (http://www.ssb.no). Back in 1970 it was only 2.8 per cent (Tveter Thoresen 2009). Compulsory education also ensures that almost all children living in Norway start school in the year they turn six, and, unlike most other European countries, almost all children in Norway attend public schools (97 per cent in 2012 (http://www.ssb.no)).Kindergartens and schools are regulated by the Kindergarten Act and the Act relating to Primary and Secondary Education respectively, which, apart from a few exceptions, also apply to private alternatives. It is quite unique for Norway that the state is sponsoring both public and private kindergartens. Both gets almost full state funding except a relatively small maximum price parents pay for each child per month. Thus, combined with relatively detailed regulations, Norwegian law regulates most of the content of Norwegian children's everyday lives between the age of one and sixteen. During this comprehensive education programme, children meet across cultural and social boundaries and undergo a cultural socialisation process through interaction with other children and adults. The institutionalised early childhood education of today is therefore of key importance in the states effort in communicating values and morals in contemporary multicultural Norwegian society. 1 This occurs through a process of cultural learning, some examples of which are language acquisition and learning how to behave towards others. Norwegian public institutions have traditionally been rooted in Christian values, but this has proved increasingly problematic in recent years, in line with the fact that a

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