Når loven møder børns institutioner.

This study examines the implementation strategies and processes related to Lov om pædagogiske læreplaner (the Act on national curriculum of ECE). The study identifies how politically driven processes of change gain acceptance, are modified or rejected by professional discourse and practice on the way through the various networks.

The study shows that there is cross-pressure between the administration, profession and users (parents). When implementing the Act on national curriculum of ECE, how the profession relates to and handles cross-pressure is crucial, both strategically and in practice. Moreover, the study points to knowledge from continuing training courses as being fundamentally 'unfinished' and continuous. It is only in the meeting with players from other knowledge cultures, that this knowledge is 'matured' and developed. Documentation processes and working methods at daycare centres implicitly contain non-explicate practices, and this affects cohesiveness between curricula and pedagogical practices.
It is concluded that it is difficult to establish success criteria for network-based policy processes in advance. Such criteria have to be related to an unclear set of standards and values, and legitimacy therefore depends on how the implementation process is perceived.  Therefore, the success criteria must be seen as an integral part of the political process.

The study is an ethnographic study. Work is based on a network perspective. The principal players in the study are four child carers from two kindergartens.  They were observed before, during and after a course in the the Act on national curriculum of ECE. A number of other players are included to the extent they interact with the four child carers.

Olesen, J. [red]. (2007). Når loven møder børns institutioner. København: Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitetsforlag.