Samma, lika, alla är unika: En analys av jämställdhet i förskolepolitik och praktik.

The purpose of this dissertation is to describe and critically analyse how gender is addressed in Swedish daycare policy at state and municipal levels and in practice.

The study finds that management documents indicate that child carers form part of both the challenge and solution in relation to establishing equality. Previously, the political debate has focused on the unequal gender balance, where focus is on the competence of child carers to work with equality at the daycare centre. Gender equality discourses apparently focus on creating equality between genders, primarily focusing on bringing the girls to the same level as the boys. The study also finds that the political discourse on equality within the daycare area has not changed for a long time and that the discourses are not linked to questions of power and gender hierarchy.

This dissertation is based on four articles, each of which addresses an area of the overall problem. Overall, the dissertation is based on document studies of government and municipal key documents, as well as interviews with municipal officials from four social-democratic municipalities and practitioners from three daycare centres in a medium-sized municipality that has worked specifically with equality. Furthermore, the study compares Swedish and Scottish equality policy in the daycare area.

Edström, C. (2010). Samma, lika, alla är unika: En analys av jämställdhet i förskolepolitik och praktik. Umeå: Doktorsavhandlingar i Pedagogiskt arbete, 36, Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Umeå University. Edström, C. (2005). ”Is there more than just symbolic statements?: Gender Equality as part of Swedish State Educational Politics”. Tidskrift för lärarutbildning och forskning, 12(3), 103-130. Edström, C. (2009). ”Lite vid sidan om den kommunala ordningen: En analys av fyra kommuners arbete med jämställdhet i förskolan”. I. Wernersson (red). Genus i förskola och skola: Förändringar i policy, perspektiv och praktik. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Göteborgs universitet. Edström, C. (ikke publiceret). ”Gör det någon skillnad?: Tre arbetslags arbete med jämställdhet i förskolan”. Indsendt til Nordic Studies in Education. Edström, C. (2009). ”Pre-school as an Arena of Gender Policies: The examples of Sweden and Scotland”. European Educational Research Journal, 8(4), 534-549.