The Educational Positioning of the Preschool-Class at the Border between Social Education and Academic Demands: An Issue of Continuity in Swedish Early Education?

The purpose of this study is to produce knowledge about the educational position of Swedish preschool classes; i.e. what takes place in connection with school-preparatory and qualification activities, the type of teaching they receive, and what content is in focus. The study investigates how teachers in Swedish preschool classes describe their teaching and activities in weekly letters and reports to parents.

Overall, the results showed that the content and organisation as well as the goals and motivation of teaching in preschool class vary. The weekly letters and reports illustrate that some teachers construct an educational position for the preschool class that is influenced by what the authors refer to as the social educational position, whereas other teachers present an academic position.

When teachers describe their teaching from a social educational position, emphasis is on care provision, the children's social development, well-being, play, participation and influence. The social educational position presents a listening and flexible teacher in interaction with active children who are viewed as competent, curious and capable of making decisions. The children are given the opportunity to question, collaborate and challenge, whereas the teachers observe and respond to the children's opinions, questions and suggestions.

When the teachers describe the teaching of the preschool class from an academic position, the content of the activities relates to various school-oriented subjects and subject areas such as Swedish and mathematics, just as focus is largely on assessing the children's level of knowledge and development – the children are to become qualified for their subsequent school career. Here, the teachers are in control and determine the form and content of the teaching.

The results show that one teacher may be representing more than one position and therefore is balancing between the two educational positions. According to the authors, shifting between these positions can be demanding not only for the teachers, but also for the children who need to learn how to interpret what is required within the different educational positions. The authors suggest that the variation in activities caused by the shift between the two positions makes it difficult to achieve continuity and equivalence in preschool-class teaching.

At a general level, the weekly reports indicate powerful orientation towards an academic position for the preschool class. According to the authors, all of the weekly reports contain traces of descriptions of teaching in Swedish language, mathematics and in nature-oriented subjects, whereas there is a significantly weaker emphasis on care provision and play in the weekly reports.

The authors analysed a total of 249 weekly letters and reports sent to parents by teachers from eight Swedish preschool classes during one school year. The weekly letters and reports were analysed focussing particularly on how teachers describe the organisation, goals and motivation of teaching, and the values on which the activities of the preschool class are based.

Ackesjö, H., & Persson, S. (2016). The Educational Positioning of the Preschool-Class at the Border between Social Education and Academic Demands: An Issue of Continuity in Swedish Early Education? Journal of Education and Human Development 5(1), 182-196.