THE POLITICS of Preschool –

THE POLITICS OF Preschool – intentions and decisions underlying the emergence and growth of the Swedish preschool Fourth edition Author: Barbara Martin Korpi The Ministry of Education and Research Cover photo: Folio

Translation: Brian R. Turner (www.intcom.se) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs

ISBN: 91-974321-9-9 Artikel nr: U16.004

Preface

A typical day in early autumn. Pick-up at for each child has an impact that lasts for preschool and then a snack. I cut up an many years. The OECD reports that it is apple and pass half of it to my three-year- possible to discern from the results of the old daughter. “No, daddy,” she says, with a PISA test taken at age 15 – nine years after know-all expression that only a three-year- leaving preschool – which pupils had a solid old can muster, “I want a quarter of an foundation in preschool. We must ensure apple”. So I smile, take the apple half and that all children in preschool actually have cut it once more. Same expression: “No, access to educational instruction and that daddy, I only want an eighth of an apple.” preschool is available to all children. They had been playing with numbers, whole and fractions, in preschool that day. This is why the Government is investing in preschools. Research shows that class In the often gloomy debate over Swedish size has an impact on educational content. schools, I am sometimes asked the If groups are too large, preschool teachers rhetorical question: “Do you remember may choose to exclude themes or working when international groups came for study methods. All children must be ‘seen’ and visits to learn from the Swedish school have time for play and for educational system?” I usually problematise the issue, challenges. Consequently, the Government pointing out that although the system is is reintroducing class-size targets and is weak, we have a strong profession, schools providing government grants to enable that succeed despite tough conditions, authorities responsible for preschools to and many good examples. But of course reduce class sizes. there is a much simpler response to the question: “Yes. Welcome to preschool!” As in all other school activities, preschool quality is determined by the relationship The Swedish preschool system is an between children and teachers. Educational international role model. Having time leadership is crucial. Preschool teachers

4 Minister for Education Gustav Fridolin visits a preschool in Sundbyberg, outside of Stockholm.

5 and preschool heads must be given the reality today for hundreds of thousands opportunity to remain in the profession of children throughout Sweden. We are and develop. The Government is delighted by the successes that have given now putting an end to the prevailing so many generations a solid start, and we are counterproductive tradition of preschools continuing to build on the foundation that being excluded from any school initiatives: has been laid. For there is more to be done, preschool teachers can be included in there are more visions to be realised. Perhaps teachers’ wage increases; an equivalent we have only come an eighth of the way? to the boost for head teachers has been introduced by the Government for The text up to 2006 in this publication was preschool heads; and government grants written by Barbara Martin Korpi, formerly for the Creative Schools initiative have Senior Adviser at the then Ministry of been expanded to include preschools. Education. She worked for several decades at the Government Offices on issues When the impact of preschool education concerning preschools and out-of-school is so evident so many years down the line, centres, and in that way has taken part in of course all children must have access most of the efforts described here. She is to it. This is why the Government wants responsible for the publication’s contents. all six-year-olds to attend a preschool class where there is scope for play and This edition has been updated by learning, and where equal value is placed the Ministry of Education and Research to on reading, writing and arithmetic. include what has taken place during the period 2006–2014. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first Preschool Act entering into Gustav Fridolin force. We are highlighting all the efforts Minister for Education being made at preschools to advance the care, development and knowledge of our children. We are seeing how what once were educational visions have become

6 7 Table of contents

Preface 4 The State Grant - the Instrument for Steering Development 36 The Historical Roots of the Preschool (1850-1930) 10 Costs and municipal growth 36 Earmarked state grants 36 Child crèches 10 The municipal ”lump sum” 37 Kindergardens 13 Better Use of Resources (1976-1985) 38 Child Care, is it Needed? (1930-1960) 15 Change in Government and continuing ”Bigger Nurseries” (Storbarnkammaren) 15 expansion of child care 38 Woman’s place in the home and on the Area standards abolished – greater freedom labour market 16 for municipalities 38 Day care centres or family day care homes? 19 Development and renewal 41 Play schools 19 Economic boom of the 1960s Private Alternatives? (1980 –1990) 42 – the starting point 21 Municipalisation 42 The 1968 Commission on Nursery Private alternatives? 42 Provision and the first Preschool Act 23 Preschool for All Children – but when? A Commission for Modern Childhood 23 (1985-1991) 44 Pedagogical dialogue, work teams, and The historic bill 44 groups of mixed ages 24 Action group to promote child care 45 Preschool 25 The First Preschool Act 25 Preschool and School (1981-1991) 47 The National Board of Health and Welfare Age when starting school 47 - advice and guidelines 26 The issue of preschool and school 48 The youngest children 27 Flexible school start 49 Parental insurance 28 Leisure-time centres and the school 49 The role of men 31 Change in Government (1991-1994) 50 Expansion of the 1970s 33 Change in Government again 50 Two parent providers in family becomes A revolution for freedom of choice? 52 the norm – expansion accelerates 33 Reverting to earlier situation 53 Shortage of places despite all efforts 34 Child Care Guarantee Incorporated in Quality in Preschool (2003-2006) 70 New Act (1995) 55 Raising quality 70 The new legislation on child care 55 The Preschool Bill 71 Without unreasonable delay 56 Gender equality and multi-culturalism 72 Economic Crisis (1990s) 57 Listening to children’s views 72 A final comment 74 Baby-boom 57 Economic crisis 57 Freedom of establishment and strengthened Pressure to expand 58 educational mandate (2006–2014) 75 Economic cutbacks 58 Freedom of establishment and the extended Municipal differences 59 universal preschool 75 New Education Act and revised curriculum 76 From Family Policy to Education Policy Boost for Preschool 78 (1996-1998) 60 New preschool teacher education 78 Preschool to improve school 60 Preschool class 61 Afterword 82 Curriculum for Preschool 62 List of photos 83 Views on the child in the curriculum 64 Tables and figures 84 Maximum Fee and Universal Preschool (1999-2003) 66 Preschool, but not for everyone 66 Halve the fee for day care centres! 66 A controversial reform 68 Maximum fee and preschool for all children 69 Evaluation of the National Agency for Education 69 The Historical Roots of the Preschool in Stockholm. Since then it has been run (1850-1930) without interruption, and more recently as a traditional preschool. The crèches were associated with poverty far into the 1950s. Child crèches They were open from seven in the mor- Child care has been provided in Sweden, ning until seven in the evening. And if albeit on a modest scale, since the middle needed, children could also be taken care of the 19th-century. As people moved from of at night. The interior was spartan, they the countryside into towns looking for work, had large groups and the staff often had no different social institutions for children training, but the children were kept clean began to emerge. The wages of factory wor- and had three square meals a day. After the kers were low, both the man and his wife, general strike of 1909, a number of infant and also the older children had to work to crèches were opened, as many fathers had support the family and many women were lost their jobs and mothers had to bear the single mothers who had to take care of their main burden of supporting the family. For children on their own. a poor person or single mother, a place at a Most children in the towns grew up crèche would mean that she would not have together with other children from the neigh- to leave her child at a foster home. bourhood on streets and in backyards. Many Child crèches were run by foundations small children had no adult to take care of and the churches. They were financed th- them whilst their parents were working, rough donations, philanthropy and collec- instead they were taken care of by an older tions in the local church. At the beginning brother or sister or the wife of a relative or of the 20th century, there were around 250 neighbour. To improve this situation, child foundations and charities for children. These crèches were started for the children of charities for the poor were subsequently poor working mothers. Some of the worst criticised by the labour movement on the off children got places in the child crèches. grounds that it should be the responsibility Access was based on needs and a certifi- of society to provide help for those who cate was required from poor relief. The first needed it. crèche was opened in 1854 in Kungsholmen

10 11 Pictures on preceding page. Upper , Katarina child crèche in Söder in Stock- holm 1906.

Lower , Engelbrekt’s child crèche in Stockholm 1909.

Left, Child crèche in Stock- holm in the 1930s.

12 Kindergardens Those working in the kindergardens were liberal, radical women. They wanted to con- During this period a completely different tribute to a better society by giving children approach reached Sweden from Germany. a rich and stimulating childhood. In having These were kindergardens or what came to this aim, they were sharing in a tradition be known in Swedish as ”barnträdgården”. dating back to the beginning of the Age of Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852) coined the Enlightenment in the 18th century, a tradi- term to reflect his pedagogical philosophy tion which still continues up to the present that children were like plants to be taken time. Their philosophical ideas originated care of and nurtured in well adapted envi- from Jean Henri Rousseau and romantic ronments. Despite the fact that the idea of idealism – the child is a product of nature the kindergarden reached many countries at and contains the seeds for becoming a com- an early stage, in the beginning it only recei- plete human being. ved little attention. The first public kindergarden in Sweden The kindergardens were only open three was established in 1904 by the two well- to four hours a day and were run for purely known sisters, Ellen and Maria Moberg, pedagogical purposes, often by private per- working at the ”Fröbel ” Training College sons. The fees were self-financing, and the in Norrköping, which they started. These children came from affluent, well-educated public kindergardens were intended for all families. The kindergarden was intended to children, including those of workers, either support upbringing at home, and this was for a low fee or completely free. One aim the reason children were only there a few was to counteract the growing gaps in so- hours a day. Some of the basic ideas, still ciety, and create greater harmony between valid in modern preschool pedagogy, were different social classes. related to the importance of play in the In photographs from this period, we can child’s development, and that children must see children gathered in large groups around be able to work with different things, build a table, wearing institutional clothes, and clo- and explore and in this way learn from their sely shaven heads to prevent lice, and bowls own personal experiences. Fröbel developed of gruel in front of them, or lining up around materials, games and songs for children, and bath tubs waiting to wash themselves, under by many he is regarded as the father of the Swedish preschool. 13 14 the supervision of uniformed nurses. Oth- er pictures show well-dressed children in seaman’s hats, equipped with handy little wheel-barrows, rakes and spades together with their very elegant female teachers. Child crèches and kindergardens were the precursors of the day care centres and play schools to come later. The Swedish preschool emerged from these two strands of poor relief and pedagogical philosophy. It would take a long time before these historical roots would grow together.

Child Care, is it Needed? (1930-1960)

”Bigger Nurseries” (Storbarnkammaren)

One of the main ingredients of the history of the Swedish preschool is the lengthy period over which debates were held on the merits of public child care - its advantages and disadvantages, how and why - and society’s responsibility for its provision. This part of its history also very much parallels that of women. The debate over the Swedish preschool

Left, Children in a kindergarden with their teachers. Right, The two sisters, Ellen and Maria Moberg.

15 started in earnest in 1932. It was then that co-operative) opened its own nurseries so Alva Myrdal (1902-1986, well-known Social that working mothers could get good and Democratic politician, debater, activist for safe care for their children. They also started women’s rights, disarmament expert with their own Preschool Training College (Soci- international assignments ), coined the term alpedagogiska seminariet), the initiative was ” the bigger nursery” (storbarnkammare). taken by Alva Myrdal who also became its The children of working mothers could be principal for 11 years. In the first instance, there whilst their mothers were working, at the college would cover the need for trained night also if necessary, and other children staff at the 13 HSB child nurseries in Stock- could spend a few hours a day there. Alva holm and those that were being planned. Myrdal wanted to remove the stigma of But the idea of a ”bigger nursery” for child- poverty from child crèches. They should be ren in each housing area was still far ahead of high quality and the staff well-educated. of its time. She considered that the upbringing of small Woman’s place in the home and on the labour children was excessively authoritarian, both market in the home, in the kindergardens, and in child crèches. ”The bigger nursery” would The first state commission into child care be an oasis for children in an urban envi- in Sweden was carried out in 1938 by the ronment that was basically unfriendly for Population Commission which introduced children. Child care should be provided the new terms ”day care centre” for whole for everyone, and children from all social day care, and play schools for shorter periods classes should have the same opportunities during the day. The investigators recom- for development. It should also be free of mended that the ideal form of care was charge. She also believed that the munici- the child’s own home combined with play palities should get a state grant to run them, school. The day care centre was necessary to and that the state should be responsible for satisfy the needs of the labour force for wo- the training of the staff. men, but it was not really desirable. Alva Myrdal’s proposals and contributions But the views of women and mothers tur- to the debate had an impact on develop- ned out to be very sensitive to the state of ment. In Stockholm, HSB (national housing the economy. During the Second World War,

16 A kindergarden in Södertälje 1938.

17 women became more important as a part of 136,000 children were born in contrast to the labour force, and not just through their what was normal in Sweden, a yearly figure roles as mothers and housewives. Swedish of around 100,000 children. The woman’s men were called up for military service and place was at home and that was what she women went out into working life, and took should go back to. During many lively deba- over the man’s role in production. The birth tes in the Riksdag, the day care centre was rate was low during the early years of the de- fundamentally questioned. They were too cade. The population crisis and the need for expensive and required too many staff. And, women on the labour market necessitated what’s more, was the day care centre really reforms in family policy. good for children? Most men considered, The Population Commission was set up in quite independently of their party sympa- 1941 under the leadership of Tage Erlander thies, that women should stay at home and (Social Democratic Prime Minister 1946- take care of children now that men were 1969). The Commission put forward propo- back at work. The 1950s are usually regar- sals on grants and regulation of day care cen- ded, above all, as the decade of the Swedish tres and play schools, and these were quickly housewife. processed by the Riksdag. The debate on day Middle-aged and older men in the Go- care centres was heated and lively, but the vernment and the Riksdag had long been proposal was adopted by the Riksdag. The opposed to women working outside the first state operating grant was introduced in home. The differences were more pronoun- 1944. The Training College also received a ced within the parties than between them. state grant and the number of training places Many women in the same assemblies fought was increased. The National Board of Health to oppose this view. However, the predomi- and Welfare was given primary responsibility nant view of the establishment far into the for child care and its expansion. 60s was that mothers should stay at home But after the war, it was as if the new atti- with their children. More than a division tudes concerning women’s employment and along party ideological lines, it was a gender the importance of the day care centre from and generational issue. A dramatic change the time before the war had never existed. was imminent. The birth rate increased rapidly, in 1945

18 Day care centres or family day care homes? support our women and give them a decent life. Our children should not need to be at It was not only the members of the Riksdag an institution. who were opposed to day care centres. At The Government’s bill to the Riksdag in the National Board of Health and Welfare, 1949 contained proposals for investing in the day care centre was mainly regarded as day care centres. But the Riksdag had a diffe- a support facility to help families with pro- rent view. Family day care homes should be blems and the risks associated with women expanded and child care, in the first instance, with small children working outside the would be provided as a social resource for home were pointed out. The board fought single mothers. However, expansion was a battle arguing that children who had been slow, in 1960 there were around 10,000 pla- removed from their family should receive ces in day care centres, just 500 more than care in a foster home instead of at an insti- had existed 10 years earlier. And there were tution, and the day care centres came to be just as many places in family day care homes. regarded as equivalent to an orphanage. On the other hand, family day care homes or Play schools foster day care homes, as they were earlier In contrast to day care homes, play schools called, were highly recommended. Here the were never questioned. A few hours a day of atmosphere was more like that at home with pedagogical activities was generally conside- the ”good” mother in attendance. Day care red to be good for the child’s development centre or family day care home, this became and upbringing. The municipalities also pre- one of the most widely debated issues over a ferred to invest in play schools as they were long period. cheaper. In 1948, 10 per cent of 4-7 year- For the Woman’s Council in the Swedish olds had a place in play school in Stockholm, Trade Union Confederation (LO), day care and 4.5 per cent of 0-7 year olds a place centres were a major issue throughout the in day care centres. 80 per cent of day care 50s. Many groups in society needed to be children came from the lowest social groups. convinced, not least the male members of In the 1950s, play schools were continuously LO, whose attitudes were completely diffe- expanded and the number of children in- rent; We should have salaries where we can creased from 19,000 to 28,000.

19 Toddlers and child nurses at a day care centre 1967.

20 Economic boom of the 1960s – the starting to 60,000 places, and they were equally point distributed between both types. In 1963 Typical of the 1960s in Sweden was a gro- parental insurance was extended, from three wing economy which soon led to an acute to six months, at that time it was called the need for a growing labour force. New hou- maternity allowance. sing areas grew up around large cities. La- When the 1960s were over, Sweden had bour was recruited from other countries, taken the lead in Europe in developing a mainly from Yugoslavia, Greece and Finland. new family policy. The expansion in child But Swedish women nevertheless formed a care and parental insurance became the con- large pool of labour, they had increasingly sistent strategy of the Social Democrats in acquired an education, and increasing num- family policy over the coming decades. The bers wanted to work professionally. Women’s Left party and the Liberal party contributed demands for liberation now became the hub to wide-ranging cross-party agreement in the of a growing democratisation process, wo- Riksdag. men were demanding gender equality, parti- Undoubtedly, it was the young Prime Mi- cipation in working life and society on equal nister, Olof Palme (Social Democratic Prime conditions, and they wanted to contribute Minister 1969-1976 and 1982-1986), a to supporting the family and have their own radical and equality oriented new generation professional life outside the home. In no of politician in the Government, who sei- small part, they were assisted by a booming zed the initiative and was the driving force economy – since women were necessary on behind the building up of society which had the labour market. been initiated, and for which child care for- This in its turn highlighted the need for med an important foundation stone. child care, and put pressure on its organisation and development. Separate taxation was introduced, the basis for women to be self-supporting, and now the real expansion of child care started. During the decade, the number of places in day care centres and family day care homes increased from 20,000

21 The Palme family at their home in Vällingby 1969.

22 The 1968 Commission on Nursery chology ruling at that time where a child’s Provision and the first Preschool Act development was considered to proceed along definite stages. Food, rest, hygiene, and outdoor activities were all considered to A Commission for Modern Childhood be important. Getting a place in a day care During a period of left-wing movements, centre was still very much based on needs as- student revolts, occupation of campuses and sessment, many children had single mothers. growing demands from parents for day care The romantic spirit of Fröbel still remained centres; the Commission on nursery provi- in the play schools catering for children at sion (Barnstugeutredning) was appointed home aged 5-6, often with elements of train 1968. According to its directives, work ditional handicrafts – sewing, cross-stitching, would mainly focus on the pedagogical con- churning butter, spinning wool and working tents of child nurseries, general activities for with wood handicrafts. The prevailing view children aged 5-6 with handicaps. But the then was that children start to become social scope of the Commission expanded, the beings at the age of four. The day care centre initial directives were supplemented the fol- was still regarded by many as something of a lowing year to include drawing up guidelines necessary evil. for municipal planning on child care, and A gigantic commission based on around the submission of proposals on how nurse- 1000 pages of documents was the founda- ries at an early stage could be part of town tion, ideologically, pedagogically and orga- and physical planning. In 1970 the commis- nisationally for the full-scale expansion of sion received further directives to examine child care in the municipalities. The commis- education issues. sion mobilised expertise from every corner What did the day care centres look like of the country to assist them in their work. at the time of Commission on nursery The scientific foundation was based on Jean provision? They were managed in an autho- Piaget’s (1896-1980) development psycho- ritarian way with staff hierarchies, and the logy and Erik Homburger Eriksson’s research children were divided into various groupings in social psychology into the growing child. - infants, toddlers, intermediate and older Work teams, children in mixed age groups, children - based on the development psy- integration and normalisation of children

23 with functional disabilities, pedagogical dia- subjects, based on the child’s own revealed logue, theme work, the importance of play, interests, the environment should provide design of the premises, pedagogical material opportunities for individual activity, creati- and co-operation with parents - all these vity and play. The Commission on nursery areas were highlighted in the commission. provision broke radically, not only with the The aim of this was to bring about a powerful existing pedagogical traditions of the school, democratisation of activities for children, and but also with the nursery’s traditional attitu- introduce a progressive pedagogy for creating de to the child’s own maturation processes. equivalent conditions for growing up. One of the proposals of the Commission was that staff form work teams and through Pedagogical dialogue, work teams, and groups of mixed ages their co-operation should provide a democratic model for children to emulate. In this The pedagogical dialogue recommended by way, the intention was to break the earlier the investigators aimed at developing a two- distribution of work, where child minders way relationship between active pedagogues often functioned as subordinate assistants to and children, based on respect for the child, the preschool teacher. The underlying idea and treating the child as an individual, and of a work team was also very much in the having a belief in the child’s ability, curiosity spirit of the times where the necessity for and desire to learn. The inspiration for the leadership was questioned. Did the day care pedagogical dialogue came from the Brazi- centres need a head? Couldn’t decisions be lian philosopher, Paulo Freire’s work on il- made collectively? The work team remained literacy amongst the poor peasants of Latin and was further developed in the preschool America. Care in the preschool would be and functioned as one of the foundations integrated with pedagogical activities. Very of the pedagogical approach. However, no small children were also encouraged to par- serious attempt was made to replace the role ticipate in and influence their daily surroun- of the responsible head. dings, and in this way they would get the Another proposal that was accepted was opportunity of developing their social com- having groups with children of mixed ages petence in democratic processes. Pedagogical i.e. groups for small children up to the age of work would be organised around themes, not three, and what were called ”sibling” groups

24 for the older children. Here the aim was gogical content. The preschool was intended that children could make friends with others for all children, including children with dif- irrespective of their age, the older children ferent types of functional disabilities, many would be models for the younger ones, and of whom had earlier been obliged to stay in help them in daily chores and situations, special institutions. and that no evaluative comparisons would The role of family day care homes was be made between children’s performance. also examined by the Commission which re- Children should learn to co-operate, not garded them mainly as a complement during compete. Children with physical, psychologi- the expansion of the preschool. Private day cal or social handicaps could more easily be care mothers were still very much in the part of the regular groups of children when majority, but more and more municipalities these groups were not based on age. This had started to municipalise family day care view was the start of a new epoch of de- homes. mocracy, gender equality and solidarity that In accordance with its directives, the would be influential and be put into prac- Commission also determined its views on tice in the daily upbringing of children. The the need for expansion, how the need for ideals of the Commission had by this time places could be assessed, municipal plan- become of major importance for the overall ning, and a universal preschool. development of the preschool. The First Preschool Act Preschool The Commission’s report was positively The ambition of the Commission was to received in 1972 by Prime Minister, Olof bring together the traditions from day care Palme, himself the father of small children. centres and play schools under a common Now the time was ripe for the major pres- organisation to be known as the ”preschool”. chool reform. Its starting point was that it Organisationally, it could be run as a full- was the responsibility of society to create time or part-time preschool, but the only conditions for all parents, and enable them distinguishing factor between these two to combine family life with work. forms was the time at which activities were Preschooling for families with children provided during the day, and not their peda- should provide at reasonable cost activities

25 of pedagogical quality that would cater for The National Board of Health and Welfare - the child’s upbringing and well-being. The advice and guidelines preschool should also support children with The National Board of Health and Welfare physical, mental or psychosocial problems played the dominant role in implementing and equalise differences in conditions for the new ideas of the Commission on nursery growing up. provision concerning pedagogical dialogue, The first piece of legislation in the area – work teams and groups of children of mixed The Preschool Act, which came into force in ages through their own progressive con- 1975, led to preschooling for six-year-olds, sultants in the country. The Government 525 hours a year free of charge, planned commissioned the start up of comprehen- expansion of preschooling in each municipa- sive pilot studies. Everyone working in the lity for children of parents who were either preschool received 40 hours of in-service working or studying, and priority places for training, and a whole range of information children in need of special support, as well as material including work plans was drawn up. outreach activities. The preschool could be Radical changes in major parts of the system, run in the form of a day care centre or part- organisationally, ideologically and pedagogi- time group, but the overall term ”preschoo- cally was not an entirely pain-free process, ling” also covered family day care homes. and, of course it had to be done quickly. As a result of the Act, preschooling be- Consultants from the National Board of came a mandatory municipal task, where Health and Welfare hardly had any time municipalities were obliged to take respon- to use their own pedagogical dialogue ap- sibility for its expansion as laid down in the proach. After a short period of time, the ge- plan. A couple of decades later on, it was in nerational and cultural shift became obvious, principle the contents of the first Preschool and this led to opposition and discussions. Act, i.e. the Act on expansion that came to In order to realise the reform of the apply. In 1995 it was replaced by broader preschool, it was also decided to reform and more detailed legislation on the obliga- preschool teacher training. Teacher training tion of the municipalities, not as before to which since 1962 had been provided by expand, but in fact to provide places without the Preschool Teacher Training College was unreasonable delay. transferred to the higher education sector

26 (university level), and extended from four on nursery provision (Barnstugeutredning), to five terms, with changes in both form which considered that groups consisting of and content. The number of teacher training 20 children created better opportunities places was increased during the 70s from for working flexibly with larger or smaller approx. 2,000 per annual cohort to close to groups of children of the same and different 5,000. ages. The introductory stage for acclimati- The National Board of Health and Welfa- sing children to the preschool should be re issued detailed advice and guidelines, and given more time. The guidelines for co- produced architectural drawings of nurseries, operation with parents were ambitious. The and how they should be designed and equip- municipalities were willing to listen, this ped. The premises were given great atten- was still a new activity for them. Advice and tion. Each department in a day care centre instructions – and there were many, were was carefully measured so that the number gratefully received and followed to the let- of places to be provided through state grants ter. could be determined. A standard area of 9.5 Even though the advice given by the Na- square metres per place was centrally deter- tional Board of Health and Welfare came to mined. be criticised as excessive and over-detailed, There was still uncertainty as to what it is nevertheless a fact that basic quality impact all this activity would have on was high, even and equivalent throughout children’s development. International expe- the country, in both urban and rural areas. riences or comparisons hardly existed at the Undoubtedly, the outcome was the result time, nor was there any research to speak of. of a clear regulatory system at the national As a result quality recommendations were level in the early years of the build-up. cautious. The groups should consist of 10- The youngest children 12 children in the groups for small children with two adults for every five children, and The 1970s was the decade of commissions. 15 children in the ”siblings” group of mixed In the traditional Swedish manner, the is- ages with one adult for every five children. sues were carefully examined, circulated for In this context, the National Board of Health official comment and support was built up and Welfare differed from the Commission for decisions and reforms. In addition, the

27 Commission on nursery provision covered Even though research in the area was a number of issues concerning leisure-time insufficient, in the view of the Commission centres, immigrant children, coordination experiences showed that a good day care between preschool and school, children with centre with trained staff cooperating with handicaps, parental training and outreach re- parents, planning their pedagogical activities, cruitment. and relating meaningful activities to reality The Commission into family support provides a good environment for children to (Familjestödsutredningen) was appointed in grow up in and a good complement to the 1974 to investigate the pedagogical condi- home. tions for the youngest children in day care Parental insurance centres. By virtue of their own research and that of others, the Commission was able to Another issue which the Commission on demonstrate that small children can have family support was asked to investigate con- close relationships with people other than cerned parental insurance. This reform in their mother, and that primary relationships family policy, unique in international terms, with their parents were maintained even would also be rapidly expanded in stages. though the child was in a day care centre. Three months of general maternity allo- The importance to children of their fathers wance were introduced in 1955. In 1963 this was highlighted in a new and radical way. was extended to six months, and in 1975 to Small children also form social contacts with nine months, at which time it was transfor- each other, and benefit from being together med into parental insurance which fathers with other children. The Commission em- could also use. As a result of the proposals phasised the importance of high quality in from the Commission on family support, preschooling for the youngest children, the parental insurance was extended in 1978 to importance of preparatory acclimatisation cover twelve months – nine months with with parental involvement, and sharing re- parental allowances, the same as for sickness sponsibility in the day care centre. The Com- benefit, and then a further three months mission wanted groups of children of mixed with the same guaranteed amount for eve- ages to cover the whole preschool age range. ryone. Parental insurance could also be used Parental co-operatives were promoted as an to reduce working hours during the child’s alternative form.

28 Helping in everday work, 1978

29 ”Hoa-Hoa” and his baby, poster on parental insurance 1976.

30 early years at school and during this period share in the work at home, as well as take provides the right to work 75 per cent of care of the children. A very small proportion normal working hours. Generous rules for of parental insurance was used by a very the care of sick children were also introdu- small proportion of fathers in the early sta- ced under the parental insurance scheme. Pa- ges. Various studies showed that men hardly rental insurance has been maintained in this took part in the work of running a home, form and expanded over the years to today’s but they did devote somewhat more time to current figure of 480 days. their children. In his speech on equality for women, at The role of men the Social Democratic Party Congress in Parental insurance, an issue for many de- 1972, Olof Palme says; cades, became as it was extended together - Even if we build countless day care centres with a preschool of high quality, the Social and the finest housing environments, we will Democrats’ and the Left Party’s alternative still not liberate women, if the work at home to the Centre-Right’s child care allowance. is not divided between men and women in a The principle that both mothers and fathers more sensible way than hitherto, and if atti- should be able to use the days under paren- tudes determining what are male and female tal insurance, and that it could be used to tasks are not changed. decrease their working hours without any In 1975 fathers used three per cent of loss of income whilst their children were their days under the parental insurance small, is, however, based on a completely dif- scheme, in 1992 the figure was slightly less ferent ideological foundation than the child than 10 per cent, and in 2004 men still only care allowance, which is mainly intended for used 19 per cent of these days. a parent staying at home who is supported The first ”daddy” month was introdu- by the other parent. ced in 1994 by the Minister for Health and The man’s role in the family was also part Social Affairs from the Liberal party, Bengt of the debate on gender equality during the Westerberg, and the second month in 2002 1970s. In traditional male dominated work- by the Minister for Health and Social Affairs places, this was viewed with some degree of from the Social Democratic party, Ingela mistrust since men were also expected to Thalén.

31 Father and child 1978.

32 Expansion of the 1970s By means of an agreement in 1976 between the Government and the Swedish As- sociation of Local Authorities, a programme Two parent providers in family becomes the norm – expansion accelerates was decided on to expand child care over the next five-year period, comprising around The number of working mothers was increa- 100,000 new day care centre places, 50,000 sing far more quickly than there were pla- new places in leisure-time centres and an ces in child care. In 1970 close to half of all expansion of family day care homes. A new mothers of small children were working, but inflation-proof state grant at a much higher the proportion with a place in child care was level was introduced in the form of a start- less than nine per cent. 10 years later, 70 per up grant, and an operating grant based on cent were working and still barely more than the number of places. The financing of state 30 per cent of children had a place in muni- costs was achieved through a special levy on cipal child care. Families with two working employers. parents had rapidly become the norm – a The municipalities built an unending transformation in society without precedent. number of day care centres. But the more The parents of the ’68 generation were the they built, the longer the queues became. driving force behind the expansion of day The need seemed to be insatiable. Given the care centres. Marches for day care centres lack of land for building, flats were used for were commonplace on the streets and in the day care centres, and parental cooperatives squares. were started by enterprising parents since Although there was a major shortage there were not enough municipal day care of places in day care centres and parental centres. During the decade the number of insurance still only covered six months, the children in day care centres increased from Government continued to maintain a policy 33,000 to 135,000, and the number of child- based on these two components. The expan- ren in family day care homes from 32,000 sion of child care became the increasingly to 125,000. In Stockholm, one preschool a dominant task of family policy over the next week was opened, and the city had an op- 20 years, this was how long it would take tion on all vacant flats on the ground floor of before the goal of full coverage could be said apartment blocks which they could inspect to have been achieved.

33 to see if they might be suitable as premises salaries, paid taxes and the ”child minder” for day care centres. became established as a legitimate occupation. Relatives, neighbours and temporary Shortage of places despite all efforts babysitters were all used to help manage the Despite the expansion of child care places in shortage. Grandparents were a resource, but the first decade, child care was still far from distances could be long and soon the older being regarded as a right - getting a place in generation of women would be at work a day care centre was regarded as more of a - grandmothers as a resource for child care privilege. The municipalities used different would gradually disappear from the statis- queuing systems to achieve some kind of or- tics. Municipalities and employers increa- der and fairness in the distribution of places, singly focused on providing overnight care. but the basic problem remained that needs Children slept in hospital utility rooms at were growing far more quickly than supply. nights whilst the mother was on night duty, Priority was given to those in greatest need and in the backseat of the car children were - children in need of special support had a fast asleep whilst parents took it in turns to legal right to be given priority, single parents relieve each other on nightshifts. and those working in occupations where The question of where day care centres there was a shortage of manpower could should be located, at the workplace or in also be given priority, but otherwise the in- housing areas, was decided by the Commis- strument for regulating distribution was the sion on nursery provision.The recommended queue, and waiting periods could be years. location was close proximity to the home, Who would take care of the children who where the day care centre would be a natu- couldn’t get places? It was mainly in the ral part of the housing neighbourhood. Some informal child care sector, primarily private workplaces, however, provided special day day care mothers who in the absence of care facilities for their employees. A number other alternatives provided a large part of of larger hospitals provided day care centres child care during this period. Day care mot- open at night for their staff. These special so- hers working on the ”black market”, were lutions were gradually disappearing since the gradually disappearing, they were employed supply of municipal day care was starting to by the municipality, got training, received increase.

34 Parents and children out demonstrating for day care centres and leisure-time centres 1975.

35 The State Grant - the Instrument for Ste- the same up to 1992 when the state grant ering Development to the municipalities was radically changed from a specific earmarked grant to a general state equalisation grant. During the period Costs and municipal growth 1975-1990, total costs of child care in- A strong driving force in the municipal ex- creased from SEK 2.9 billion to SEK 35 bil- pansion of child care especially in the initial lion. No other sector of society could come phases, was its close relationship to munici- close to matching the expansion of child pal growth and increasing tax revenues. The care. Needless to say this led to some tension arguments for attracting people and compa- between the Ministry of Finance and the Mi- nies to specific municipalities were now not nistry of Health and Social Affairs. just good living conditions, schools and out- Earmarked state grants door life, but also easily accessible child care of high quality. Soon there was not a single State grants were earmarked, related to new housing area planned without premises performance, and had no cost ceiling, they for child care. were calculated annually - and exceeded. The other driving force, not only for the The grants were distributed by the National expansion of preschooling, but also its quali- Board of Health and Welfare to the muni- tative development during the early decades cipalities based on reports on number of was the existence of stable financing con- places as measured during the previous year. ditions. The state’s share of preschool costs During the early years of the expansion, was initially relatively small. In the 1970s, the grant was linked to the requirement for when the decision on fully expanding the pedagogically trained staff, nutritional food, system had been taken, the state grant was area per child, maximum number of child- raised substantially to about 45 per cent of ren in groups and opening hours. These were operating costs. The municipalities’ share important factors in determining the equi- was approximately the same, and parents valence of basic quality in the expansion of accounted for about 10 per cent of costs. preschooling in a situation where municipa- This distribution of costs between the state, lities had far from perfect knowledge of the municipalities and users remained essentially situation.

36 The needs of the municipalities to maxi- least seven hours every Saturday and Sunday mise their incomes meant that the smallest were entitled to an additional grant. change in the rules governing state grants Such detailed steering through state had an immediate impact. This was widely grants may seem unthinkable today, but the used throughout the period. It later became effects of this steering were indisputable. necessary to simplify the administration of When earmarked state grants for child care grants. The National Board of Health and were discontinued at the beginning of the Welfare was hardly in a position to approve 1990s, regulation by law was used instead every day care centre given the speed at and made much more rigorous. which they were being built. More and more The municipal ”lump sum” rules and checks were abolished, as municipal autonomy increased. The state grant, In December 1991, the Commission on mu- however, would also in the future be used nicipal finances put forward a long discussed as a instrument to steer the municipal deve- proposal on a radical change in state grants lopment of child care in a certain direction; to municipalities. The earlier earmarked in 1977 the first grant for mother tongue state grants for school, child care, and other tuition in the preschool was introduced, a municipal activities were replaced by a gene- simplified unit grant for every 15 registered ral grant, and in addition to this, a system for children was introduced in 1988, as well as a equalising incomes and costs between muni- standard grant for children in need of special cipalities was introduced. This meant that a support, and a special grant for in-service large number of earmarked state grants were training. discontinued and what was called the ”muni- When it turned out that children of blue cipal lump sum” was introduced - the whole collar workers were underrepresented in day state grant would be distributed as a lump care centres, mainly because opening hours sum without any special conditions gover- were not adapted to their needs, an additio- ning its use. The municipalities could now, nal operating grant was quickly allocated to based on existing legislation, themselves de- day care centres open at night. Later on day termine how they would use funds in accor- care centres open for at least three hours dance with their own priorities. Municipal above the norm 6.30-18.00, or open for at self-determination has increased substanti-

37 ally since these reforms were introduced in least seven hours a day compared with the 1993. earlier five hours a day. The five hour limit When the economy started to grow again had led to the establishment of increasing at the turn of year 2000, some earmarked numbers of day care centres open half-time. grants were introduced in both the preschool These were run with full operating grants, and school. Special state grants were introdu- which covered most of the costs. In the same ced for quality assurance and staff increases. year the first grant for mother tongue tuition The Association of Swedish Local Authorities was introduced for six-year-olds. found it difficult to accept this change. But No child care allowance was proposed the state grant is now used once again as a by the Centre-Right Government. The steering instrument to guide development. importance of home for child care and upbringing was emphasised in public statements. Training for parents was developed Better Use of Resources (1976-1985) and linked to the child welfare centres. The National Board of Health and Wel- Change in Government and continuing expan- fare continued to play an intensive role. A sion of child care broadly-based approach had been initiated In autumn 1976, a Centre-Right Govern- focusing on a pedagogical programme for ment took power for the first time in 40 the preschool. years. The change in Government did not lead to any major changes in child care. The Area standards abolished – greater freedom for expansion continued, even though some municipalities changes were made to the state grant. The The Social Democrats returned to Go- statutory universal preschool for six-year- vernment in 1982. In the child care area, olds had now been introduced, and there the time in opposition had been spent on was an agreement between the state and establishing and running a child and youth municipalities that the state grant should not be withdrawn. To receive operating grants, day care centres were required to be open at Groups of children of mixed ages 1978.

38 39 delegation under the leadership of the party municipalities. The National Board of Health chairman, Olof Palme, and this issued re- and Welfare would no longer provide detai- commendations calling for the expansion led advice and guidelines for child care. The and development of pedagogical content in standards on areas laid down centrally - so the preschool. irritating for the municipalities - were abo- The cost of expanding child care in- lished, as was the ceiling on the maximum creased immensely. And yet the queues were number of children per department. This still not decreasing. The regulatory system clearly meant that the municipalities were to drawn up by the National Board of Health decide themselves how many children there and Welfare began to create tension with the should be in each day care department. The municipalities. Was it really necessary that bill was full of statements that the removal such inflexible and rigid standards for areas of certain state rules would not be permit- and all the other rules had to be followed? ted to lead to a qualitative deterioration of All these regulations led to excessive cost in- the preschool, and that municipalities had creases. The economy had started to weaken. to make their own local assessments of the The Government needed to achieve growth, need for resources. Discussions on the aboli- combat inflation and reduce the budget tion of area standards and the limits to group deficit. Better use of resources in child care size continued into the next century. became a requirement, both for economic In 1984 a staff grant was also introduced reasons and also to speed up its expansion. for all employees working with groups of Some new measures were taken. children. Basically, the grant corresponded to The earlier generous rules for state grants 25 per cent of salary costs, and it was not as were tightened somewhat and further small earlier only linked to preschool teaching po- changes were made. It was no longer possible sitions. This was not entirely uncontroversial, to obtain a grant for unused places, grants particularly from the trade unions represen- were now tied to the number of registered ting preschool teachers. This meant that all children instead of a specific number of pla- staff were now entitled to state grants, and ces, the slack in the system was removed. this also covered child minders. These restraints were accompanied by a decision providing greater freedom for

40 Development and renewal

Finally a substantial amount was allocated for development and renewal in child care. Funds amounting to SEK 30 million a year were incorporated into the existing state grant for this purpose, and they would be allocated by the Government on application from the municipalities. What were the renewal ambitions? Projects aiming at greater efficiency and rationalisation were to be given priority. New cheaper operating models, more dif- ferentiated opening hours based on need, decentralisation of budgetary responsibility to the preschools themselves, and municipal result units were set up, as were more effective and rapid admissions rules and allocation of places – even the use of computerised systems. What were the outcomes? Some of this was achieved, as well as projects on what the preschools were already good at; development of pedagogical content, projects for children in need of special support, cultural projects involving music, drama and creative activities. What primarily came out of all this was renewed involvement and goodwill in the municipalities, amongst politicians, officials

Prime Minister Olof Palme 1985.

41 and staff in child care. In each municipality, schools gradually came under the auspices development was underway with funds from of the municipalities. Municipalisation of the special grant. Child care was at the top nurseries received strong support from the of the political agenda of the municipalities. municipalities themselves and the trade They wanted to show they were progressive union organisations. The need for coherent and taking many initiatives. Wherever the municipal planning was the main reason Minister for Health and Social Affairs went, behind the municipalisation process, as well municipalities and preschools were enthusi- as more even and higher quality combined astically demonstrating their achievements. with more secure financing. The staff wanted Although funding had been brought into municipalisation in order to get more secure the existing state grant, the initiative was working conditions. experienced as highly positive and revitalis- In 1941 the municipalities ran around se- ing for the whole area. After some years, the ven per cent of the few institutions existing National Board of Health and Welfare took at that time, ten years later the municipali- over the responsibility for administering the ties accounted for 36 per cent of what was grant, the purpose was that development still a modest number in the country. By the and renewal should be a regular feature of end of the 1960s, the expansion of day care preschooling and school-age child care. centres under the municipalities had clearly started. In 1970 almost all preschooling - 96 per cent - was municipal. Private Alternatives? (1980 –1990) Private alternatives?

Municipalisation In the 1980s the non-socialist parties highlighted the question of private alternatives In the beginning child care was provided in municipal child care. The costs of child entirely through private initiatives with care were increasing and it was thought that variable quality, but gradually over time it private alternatives might be both cheaper became recognized as a responsibility for so- and better. Child care was the fastest gro- ciety. The state and municipalities undertook wing activity in the country - and because of to provide an increasingly larger proportion this of great interest for the private sector as of the financing, day care centres and play

42 well. Companies started day care centres for their employees – however, in the form of parental co-operatives, in order to receive state grants. The Government now had to con- sider all proposals on allowing other providers to enter the area. Lively discussions took place between the party blocks on the left and the right. The Social Democratic Government was cool in its attitude to privatisation and economic exploitation of expansion in child care. There was a fear that there would be different categories of day care centres with both low and high price variants if child care were to become market oriented. In 1983 the Social Democratic Go- vernment put forward a Bill that the grant should not go to day care centres which were run along commercial lines. Strict guidelines were laid down for what types of non-municipal day care centres were entitled to grants. The state grant would be available to parental co-operatives, privately run day care centres and leisure-time centres offering a special pedagogical form – e.g. Montessori or Waldorf, or run by non-commercial organisations

Learning from each other 1978. 43 or on other non-commercial grounds. A vernment came to power in 1991, private prerequisite, however, was that that muni- alternatives in child care became a major cipalities had to give their approval and it issue and a new direction was taken. had to be incorporated in their planning of child care, and also that the fees should not be higher than in the municipality, and that Preschool for All Children – but when? children from the municipal queues would (1985-1991) be accepted. The intention was that these alternatives could function as a complement The historic bill to those of the municipality, and be run in a The expansion of child care to provide full way that would be enriching through the de- coverage for children of parents, either wor- velopment of new ideas and innovation. On king or studying, was also the major issue the other hand, they should not have a seg- during the 1980s. The Government took ad- regational impact through the fees charged ditional steps and submitted in 1985 what and admission rules, and the operating forms came to be called the historic bill - Preschool should not be principally based on profitabi- for All Children. lity factors. The municipalities would them- This proposed that the preschool should selves be responsible for granting permits. not only be linked to parents’ need for child The issue of ”freedom to establish” led to care enabling them to work or study, but many debates in the Riksdag between the that it should also be a right for the child - Government and the opposition. The Minis- something that all children irrespective of try of Finance, recognised internally that a their family situation could take part in. The wider circle of providers would be desirable. pedagogical role of the preschool in sup- And this was also the case when in 1990 the porting the child’s development and learning Government in a bill accepted that the state from an early age thus became a political grant could also be allocated to day care issue in itself. The Government’s proposal to centres and leisure-time centres run by staff, the Riksdag laid down the principles gover- providing the conditions were the same as ning a preschool for all children. for other non-municipal providers. The content of the proposal was that all When the four party Centre-Right Go- children from the age of 18 months until

44 they begin school would have the right to child care, was the “sour” comment of the attend preschool. This starting point was Minister for Finance. Part-time groups and chosen since the intention was that parental open preschool were now entitled to receive insurance would gradually be built up in state grants since they were also covered in stages from 12 to 18 months as economic the plan. conditions allowed. For children of parents, In order to reinforce the pedagogical role who were working or studying, this right of the preschool, a proposal on a common covered places in day care centres, parental framework containing for the whole country co-operatives and family day care homes. a pedagogical programme for the preschool For children in family day care homes or was also submitted. The National Board of whose parents were working at home, the Health and Welfare was commissioned by right would apply to open preschool for the the Government to draw up the programme. youngest children, and children from the age The Riksdag then made the decision to im- of four could attend part-time groups to the plement the principle of a preschool for all same extent as six year olds in the universal children, and this became the foundation for preschool. its subsequent expansion. The goal was that the preschool system But it is easy to forget how strong some of would provide full coverage by 1991, and the attacks mounted in the Riksdag against legislation to this effect was announced. The day care centres were, “indirectly” these were municipalities then had five years to plan directed against the right of women to work the expansion and fulfil the intentions of outside the home at that time. the bill. Waiting periods for child care would Action group to promote child care be measured annually in each municipality, and be cut by a fifth each year. This was an Now the staff situation had become pro- ambitious goal to set, given the fact that blematic. The rapid expansion required an barely any of the municipalities were close increase of 40 per cent in the number of to providing full coverage of needs. employees over a five-year period. Not un- The state grant was increased yet again - surprisingly this led to a shortage in the mid- the only means the Minister for Health and 80s of trained staff, especially in the larger Social Affairs could envisage for developing cities. This was due to the slightly changing

45 status of the profession and the comparably man of the commission became the munici- low salaries. Different ways had to be found pal commissioner in Botkyrka, the very first showing that the preschool was an attractive municipality in the country to introduce a place to work in if the decision to provide guarantee of child care places within four full coverage of needs was going to be achie- months. ved. The action group had little time, a re- A period of manifestations about pres- port had to be submitted after the summer, chools, child culture and play ensued. Cam- and the group focused on visiting different paigns to provide information and recruit municipalities. The municipalities which staff were carried out. Posters, film screen- were worst off, were visited by the group ings, TV and employment exchanges, all and discussions were held with the munici- highlighted the need for preschool teachers. pal boards and officials on when the queues Funds were set aside for child cultural cen- could be eliminated, where the obstacles tres around the country, and these could actually existed, and proposals for solutions. function as in-service training and inspiration The action group was more or less welco- for staff, international contacts in the child med everywhere. Some municipal politi- area were made. cians were delighted with this interest and But as 1991 approached, there were still made immediate decisions to expand. Sud- many municipalities that were not even denly inventiveness was no longer in short close to reaching the goal. The impatience supply, whole villages of day care centres of parents was growing and they expected were planned to be built in a flash. Oth- results. What was the real situation – was ers, however, were more doubtful about the decision a solid commitment or just an tying themselves to a specific date, and ambitious goal? In spring 1990, a radical pointed out the difficulties of getting staff, move was made and a commission was set the worsening financial situation, and the up in the form of an action group for child over-optimistic belief that family day care care and given the task together with the homes would solve the crisis. Only a few municipalities of drawing up an inventory of municipalities were directly indifferent and possible measures to quickly expand and im- completely lacked the will to expand child prove the situation in child care. The chair- care, despite incessant coverage from local

46 radio and the press. with significantly higher staffing ratios and The birth rate was now one of the highest smaller groups than in the school. Why in Europe. And at the same time the number should we change this, children will start of women at work was almost the same as school soon enough, many argued. In the the number of men. It was obvious that the preschool they wanted to keep the oldest goal of full coverage in childcare was still children, since they were a pedagogical asset too far away for a legislative solution to be for the groups. And wasn’t it the case that effective. the school was less than desperate to take And as it turned out, it would not be the care of younger children for whom they had Social Democratic Government that imple- little training. mented the first stage of the decision on the There were mainly two political argu- preschool for all children, but it’s Centre- ments for reducing the age at which children Right successors. start school. Some argued, especially from the Ministry of Finance, that it would be cheaper to start school a year earlier. The Preschool and School (1981-1991) preschool would be relieved of the pressure of an annual cohort, the cost per school Age when starting school place for younger children was much lower than in a day care centre. It was also sug- The age at which children should start gested that Sweden with its late school start school became at this point a major recur- would appear to be somewhat provincial in ring political issue. Reducing the age when relation to the rest of Europe. children start school from seven to six was The second argument was more pedagogi- discussed internally in the Social Democratic cally justified. The school needed to be deve- Government. Some of the opposition par- loped. It could benefit greatly from the pe- ties recommended starting at the age of six. dagogical approaches used in the preschool. Support for this was not widespread among Six year olds could function as catalysts and parents and the general public. The day care contribute to the development of schooling centre was highly regarded and a secure en- for the early years. The pedagogy of the vironment for children of working parents, preschool and the school could interact and

47 blend into something more development fairly on the basis of the needs of children oriented. The mutual mistrust that existed and families, but also important to take so- between preschool and school could perhaps cial aspects into account. be bridged. What the preschool would gain The age at which children start school from this, apart from reduced state grants, was a permanently recurring issue. Swe- was not self-evident. den, similar to many other countries in the It wasn’t easy to argue in favour of either Nordic area started school later than other the economic or pedagogical case. There countries in Europe. The original reasons was opposition in the two ministries respon- for this, namely that the country was spar- sible and a great deal of uncertainty in the sely populated with long distances between Government. But the question about the home and school for small children, howe- six-year-olds remained on the agenda, and ver, became increasingly inappropriate. opinion in favour of a reduction in the age If Sweden had not already had in cont- for starting school was beginning to gain rast to many other countries a universal ground. preschool for all six year olds, the question would in all probability have been more The issue of preschool and school quickly resolved. Instead the issue now be- If we look back a little further in time, su- came a political struggle at the state and mu- pervisory responsibility for preschool and nicipal level between preschool and school. other forms of child care had been an issue The trade union representatives of pres- for a long time – was the decision to be ba- chool teachers and teachers – the Swedish sed on social or education factors? However, Teachers’ Union argued that the preschool one area where there was agreement was as a whole, not only the six year olds, should that irrespective of the type of preschooling, be transferred to the education sector. the same supervisory authority should be re- The age at which compulsory schoo- sponsible. Since 1945 the National Board of ling should start was debated during the Health and Welfare had had overall respon- 1980s and 90s in all the Nordic countries. sibility, but this might only be temporary The struggle between preschool and the during the expansion phase, since it was not school was similar, but the solutions were only particularly important to allocate places somewhat different. In Denmark a pres-

48 chool class for six-year-olds was introduced start for children at the age of six or seven, early on, known as the ”börnehaveklassen”. from the autumn term in the same year. The Other countries were more cautious. Later Ministry of Finance made their calculations on in Norway the Centre-Right Government on how large a proportion of six-year-olds reduced the age to six, and in Finland it is might start earlier, and could thus assess how only recently that a universal preschool has quickly the reform could be implemented. been introduced within the framework of But many questions remained unclear – the school, a year before starting school. In would preschool teachers or school teachers Iceland, on the other hand, schooling from take care of the youngest ones, would clas- the age of six has been compulsory for a long ses have mixed ages, would the pedagogical time. programme of the preschool or the school curriculum be applied? Flexible school start As it turned out these questions never In autumn 1990 the Government’s crisis had to be answered since parents were not package contained proposals for a flexible that enthusiastic about choosing an early school start – this was the first step towards school start. It turned out to be a miscal- a nine-year compulsory schooling system culation to believe that parents would sup- starting at the age of six. Parents could port and choose the early start option, espe- themselves decide whether their children cially as neither the preschool nor the school should begin school at the age of six or se- was particularly interested. A few six-year- ven. The assumption was that more and olds started school the first year. This figure more parents would choose starting earlier. did not increase much in the coming years. This could take some of the pressure off the But the question of starting school earlier preschool and free up funds to provide some would recur and appear in a more radical financing for an urgent reform of the upper solution – the preschool class. secondary school. Leisure-time centres and the school The fact that parents themselves should decide when their children start school At the same time as the question of the might appear to be clear-cut. In June 1991 preschool and school was being discussed, a the Riksdag decided on a voluntary school commission was appointed to carry out an

49 investigation into leisure-time centres and Change in Government (1991-1994) the school. The task was to monitor, stimu- late and accelerate development towards Change in Government again a more organisationally and pedagogically integrated system for school and school-age The results of the election in September child care. 1991 led to a shift in Government. The Soci- The Commission worked dynamically and al Democratic Government handed over re- allocated funds to projects where school and sponsibility to a coalition four party Centre- leisure-time centres co-operated over deve- Right Government. The Government policy lopment. The aim was both economic and statement proclaimed a systemic change pedagogical. The culture of leisure-time cen- announcing deregulation, privatisation and tres could enrich schooling. Co-ordination of freedom of choice. The child care allowance premises and staff would lead to better use and state grants for all forms of private pres- of resources. The contradictions between the chooling were promised. leisure-time centre and the school were not With a flying start, the Minister for as prominent as those between the preschool Health and Social Affairs, a member of the and school. The Commission proposed that Liberal Party and also Deputy Prime Minis- leisure-time centres would be completely ter, first took up the question on the right integrated with the school in municipalities of free establishment in child care. During as regards premises, and pedagogically and the course of a single mandate period, he organisationally. The school, became the new was able to extend parental insurance in the working place for leisure-time pedagogues child area, and introduce the first ”daddy’s” and recreational leaders. month, launch an initiative for preschool teachers by extending preschool teacher training by 20 credit points to three years, and he also introduced the first Children’s Ombudsman. On his initiative, generous

Minister for Schools, Göran Persson with school children 1989.

50 51 funding was provided for projects managed private preschools, at the same time as mu- by voluntary organisations for children with nicipal preschools were being closed down. an immigrant or refugee background, within But conditions on the labour market had the framework of the UN Convention on become less stable, with redundancies and the Rights of the Child. He also submitted unemployment increasing. At this time few a bill on new legislation for child care. His were prepared to give up secure employ- slogan was freedom of choice, diversity and ment to run privatised centres. gender equality. To counteract this and promote privatisation, the Centre-Right Government decided A revolution for freedom of choice? to take further steps. Now municipalities In the election the four party Government were obliged to provide the same funding had clearly shown they were united over per place as in corresponding municipal family policy. This issue had long been a ma- child care for all privately run preschool and jor stumbling block. The Christian Demo- leisure-time centres. In determining whether crats and the Centre party drove the child to provide a permit, only the suitability of care allowance, whilst the Liberal party was the principal organiser and the premises strongly opposed. Instead they wanted to were to be considered. However, fees could continue the expansion of child care in new not deviate unreasonably from those of the non-municipal forms. For the Conservatives, municipality. In practice, the right to free the highest priority was tax relief for the establishment of child care was introduced costs of child care including care provided in with the same financial conditions for muni- one’s own home. cipal and private entities. One of the first measures taken by the In the same bill, it was also proposed that Minister for Health and Social Affairs was a taxable child care allowance of SEK 2,000 to submit a bill on the right of free esta- a month should be introduced, together with blishment in child care. Now non-municipal the right to tax relief on child care costs up preschool and leisure-time activities could to a maximum amount. The four party Go- be run on commercial grounds as well. vernment was thus able to enact all its most But privatisation only proceeded slowly. It important issues in child and family policy. resulted in an increase in the proportion of Some municipalities were extremely

52 concerned about this, as they regarded it as to plan and steer resources to where they are compulsory privatisation. Necessary ratio- most needed. For this reason, we are opposed nalisations had already been started, unem- to legislation which would lead to over-esta- ployment had begun to increase substanti- blishment of child care, the right to tax relief on ally and the economy became increasingly private childcare financed out of public funds, weak. Under such conditions how could the and forcing municipalities to close down muni- budget be kept? And was it really the inten- cipal day care centres. Resources should not be tion that public funds should be used to run misused, but used for the good of the child.” preschools operated by ”religious sects”? The right to free establishment in fact had Critics pointed out the risk of deteriorating not come into force, but a private person, quality, unnecessary cost increases and grea- association, or religious group which ful- ter segregation. fils the requirements for quality and safety could also in the future run preschools and Reverting to earlier situation leisure-time centres. However, the municipa- When the Social Democratic Government lity, now once again would decide whether returned to office once again in 1995, it im- to grant a permit or not. Financial conditions mediately proposed the revocation of the should as before be the same for both muni- decision on the right to free establishment. cipal and privately run activities. At the same time the child care allowance The proportion of privately run pres- and the right to tax relief on child care costs chools increased with the approval of the previously introduced by the four party municipalities, mostly in large cities and Centre-Right Government were withdrawn. suburban municipalities, and least in spar- The bill put forward by the Social Demo- sely populated areas and industrial munici- crats outlined their policy on privately run palities. Over time in some municipalities, centres in the child care area; especially in the suburbs under the control ” Private child care in the form of parental of the Centre-Right, a large proportion of co-operatives and other private activities can preschools were run by non-municipal play- enrich and develop child care. In the future this ers. Parental co-operatives continued to be will be an important complement to municipal the most common form, but other forms and child care. But the municipalities must be able different pedagogical orientations were also

53 54 increasing. In 2006, 17 per cent of preschool leisure-time centres, or family day care ho- children were registered in privately run mes, municipal or private, and without unre- preschools. asonable delay. Preschooling and school-age Despite this, the right to free establish- child care would have sufficient coverage to ment remained one of the recurring issues enable parents to manage their work or stu- in child care, together with the child care al- dies. lowance and the age at which school should The proposal was that the legislation be started. In February of the election-year should be broadened and made more detai- 2006, the Green party allied itself with the led on a number of points. New provisions four Centre-Right parties and achieved a on quality were introduced, although they majority for re-introducing the right to free were not highly specific; the groups should establishment for preschools in the Riksdag. have the right composition and size, the premises should be appropriate for preschooling, and the staff should have either Child Care Guarantee Incorporated in New appropriate training or experience. Howe- Act (1995) ver, the bill also contained proposals that the proportion of preschool teachers, represen- The new legislation on child care ting about half the total at that time, should be increased in the future. The principle of The new legislation on child care which proximity between the home and preschool entered into force 1995 would bring to an for preschool children, or their leisure-time end a protracted period where the only obli- centre and school for younger school children gation of the municipality was to plan the was laid down in the legislation. The law also expansion of child care. Now the municipa- stated that children in need of special support lities would actually supply places for child- should also have their needs satisfied. ren from the age of one in the preschool and It was still the case that only the children of parents who were working or studying would be entitled to child care. Preschool Children at preschool celebrating Lucia 1991. for the benefit of the child through a universal preschool from the age of four was not

55 included. On the other hand the obligation legislation was formulated as an obligation required that children from the age of one on the part of the municipalities, and not as up to twelve be provided with a place. Un- a right for the private person, this could be der the legislation there was a commitment taken to court by any citizen in the muni- to expand school-age child care. In this situa- cipality. And it was particularly clear in the tion, it was absolutely clear that if preschoo- preamble to the bill that ”unreasonable de- ling were expanded, this would lead to a lay” referred to a maximum period of three need for more school-age child care, and also to four months after applying for a place. because the large annual cohorts from the The majority of the municipalities, but by no end of the 1980s were coming closer to the means all, were at this stage providing either age when they would start at leisure-time full or nearly full needs coverage for child centres. care. This was a pre-requisite for introducing The Riksdag decided by a clear majority legislation of this type. But the high birth to accept the proposals in the bill. rate meant that many more children than The Social Democrats, who were in opposi- normal would need a place over the coming tion, had earlier announced their intention years. of introducing such legislation and thus in In addition, the legislation meant that principle had no objections. The right to free municipal provision of places would have establishment, child care allowance and tax to correspond to changes in the birth rate, relief on the costs of child care also contai- as well as population inflows and outflows ned in the bill were, however, rejected by in municipalities and districts in a com- the Social Democratic opposition. pletely different way compared to earlier. An increase or reduction in the number Without unreasonable delay of new births meant the number of places Most of what was laid down in the law were needed could increase or decrease at short principles that were already familiar, but notice. The flexibility and preparedness of the formulation ”provide places without un- the municipalities would now be put to the reasonable delay” was completely new and test. The legislation put great demands on brought a strong reaction from Swedish As- the municipalities, particularly as thousands sociation of Local Authorities. Although the of parents in each municipality would be

56 acutely aware of their rights. There were also increases had last taken place way back at people, both at the municipal and central the beginning of the 1930s. The largest num- level, who in the light of the prevailing eco- ber of children, around 124,000 were born nomic situation, and fluctuations in the birth in 1990, this corresponded to 2.13 children rate, doubted whether the reform could per woman. After Iceland and Ireland, the really be implemented. Swedish birth rate was the highest in Eu- But the legislation actually worked, de- rope. In the same year the number of wo- spite the many reservations on the part of men in the labour market, which had been the Swedish Association of Local Authori- increasing throughout the 1970s and 80s, ties. In the first follow-up in 1995, about reached a peak of 86 per cent of all women 80 per cent of the municipalities were able with children aged one to six. A strong belief to provide preschooling in accordance with in the future coupled with intensive measu- the new requirements at the start of the res in child care and parental insurance had autumn. Thereafter municipal preparedness contributed to the high birth rate by making increased rapidly and for a number of years it advantageous to have children at short in- now all municipalities have in principle tervals. been able to provide preschooling without Economic crisis unreasonable delay, and the same applies to school-age child care. After a decade of full employment, in au- A new generation of Swedish parents tumn 1991 Sweden was affected by a serious with small children no longer regard child economic crisis which led to rapidly increa- care as a privilege, but as a right. sing unemployment. There was also a very sharp decline in the birth rate. From having been amongst the highest in Europe, the Economic Crisis (1990s) birth rate now sank to the lowest level ever measured in the country - 1.5 children per Baby-boom woman. The reduction in the birth rate took place at the same time as there was a sub- Towards the end of the 1980s, the birth rate stantial increase in unemployment. Various increased sharply in Sweden, many more studies have shown the connection between children were born than usual. Such large

57 low employment, low incomes and low birth During the years 1994-1997, the propor- rates. In contrast to most other European tion of children aged between 1-6 years in countries, unemployment in Sweden does preschool and family day care centres in- not appear to have led to an increase, but the creased from 59 to 65 per cent, and from opposite, a reduction in the birth rate. The 52 to 56 per cent in school-age child care. economic situation created major challenges In contrast to the earlier years of the ex- for welfare. Child care also had to bear the pansion, there was a large increase in the brunt of sweeping economic cutbacks. The number of children in child care during the start of a recession had an impact on the si- 1990s in unchanging economic conditions, tuation, election promises were postponed but at increasingly higher fees. Gross costs to the future. in fixed prices were the same in 1991 as in 1997 – SEK 42 billion, although the number Pressure to expand of children registered increased during this During the first half of the 1990s, there was period by 185,000. This implies an average great pressure to expand. More rigorous re- cost reduction per place of 30 per cent. quirements on the municipalities to provide Economic cutbacks places without unreasonable delay in preschooling and school-age child care, in com- Most municipalities used reductions in staff bination with high birth rates meant that as a means of bringing the costs of child care many new places were added each year. The down. Often it was child minders who had total number of children registered increased to leave the sector, who became unemployed from 571,000 to 753,000 children. In the or worked in other sectors of society such preschool alone, the number of children in- as care of the elderly. This meant that the creased by close to 100,000 children, from proportion of preschool teachers increased, 270,000 to 365 000. At the same time the and in the middle of the 1990s, 58 per cent number of children in family day care homes of the staff had received preschool training, decreased. Towards the end of the 1990s, which was the highest figure that had yet leisure-time centres had to cater for large been achieved. Having well educated staff numbers of children by substantially increa- became a kind of insurance that quality sing group size and decreasing staffing ratios. would not be jeopardised by cutbacks. But

58 many pointed out that the nature of the children, but there were still many groups profession had changed in some respects with more than 16 children. Staffing ratios due mainly to the fact that the groups were varied between municipalities from 3.9 becoming increasingly large at the same time children per annual worker on average to as staff were being reduced. More children 6.7, but extremely low staffing ratios were in the preschool needed special support as also found in some municipalities – 7 - 10 the groups became larger and the staff fe- children per annual worker had disappeared. wer. Some municipalities took far-reaching When the Social Democratic Govern- rationalisation measures and reached a limit ment regained power in 1994, Göran Pers- that staff could accept. This undermined the son, first as Minister for Finance and then good reputation of the preschool and the as Prime Minister, implemented his far- loyalty of the staff to their employers, the reaching reorganisation of public finances. municipalities. The staff tried to make the The impact was evident on families with best of the situation and minimise the nega- children, who were faced with reductions in tive consequences for parents and children. sickness benefit and parental insurance, and Different pedagogical strategies were develo- the withdrawal of the multi-child supple- ped to manage the new situation. ments in the child allowance. Earlier it was unusual to have groups with Municipal differences more than 15 children in the preschool. But now there was a rapid increase in group size. At the same time as the cutbacks were affec- The differences between municipalities be- ting child care, the municipalities were rai- came accentuated. At the end of the decade, sing fees. The parents’ share of costs of pres- just a small proportion of all the country’s chooling and school-age child care virtually preschools had 15 children in the groups. doubled during the 1990s from 10 to 20 per It was far more common that the groups cent. Differences between the municipalities had up to 20 children, and sometimes even became increasingly larger. In some cases more. Close to three per cent of the groups the fees for families could be much higher had 26 or more children – figures that were in one municipality compared with another. quite unthinkable prior to 1990! The fees became more related to income The situation was better for younger and time spent at the centres. Some muni-

59 cipalities introduced hourly fees to reduce From Family Policy to Education Policy what was regarded as over-utilisation. For a (1996-1998) low salaried single-parent, the difference in fees between one municipality and another Preschool to improve school could amount to SEK 30 000. The term ”reasonable fees” as laid down in the legislation In March 1996 the new Prime Minister, on child care, increasingly appeared to have Göran Persson, gave his Government policy lost its meaning. statement to the Riksdag. It contains a few Other differences were different rule lines that will lead to a major change in pres- systems introduced by the municipalities. In chooling and school-age child care; order to reduce costs, municipalities in close ” Lifelong learning should be a foundation sto- to half of the country applied rules which ne in Government policy for combating unem- meant that children whose parents became ployment. Sweden should be able to compete unemployed could not keep their places in with high competence, and the prerequisites for the preschool. This was a new situation for this are to be provided through high-quality many parents – first getting a place for their in all school forms, from preschool to higher child and then having to relinquish it, or that education. The preschool should contribute to the child started and then had to leave pres- improving the important early years of the com- chool at short notice since their parents were pulsory school”. taking part in different labour market train- The question of whether the preschool ing measures. Still more unusual was the fact and the leisure-time centre should be part of that children of parents on leave of absence family policy or education policy had now could keep their places in preschooling. long been a perennial issue. Still no good solution had yet been found for the age at which children start school and the transition between preschool and school. A work group with representatives from the ministries involved had without any major success been working on the question of starting school at the age of six.

60 Large cohorts of children were affected and a variety of views existed as to what the cost implications would be of reducing the age at which children start school. This led to indefinite postponement. As a result of a new Municipal Act, a new state grant system and deregulation, developments in municipalities meant that in the near future all municipalities would introduce boards to oversee school and child care. And now it was the right time for preschooling and school-age child care to be integrated at the state level with the school and come under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. The key idea was integration and this was the start of a new epoch in the history of the Swedish preschool.

Preschool class

The Minister for Schools, who now took over responsibility for preschooling and school-age child care, wanted to move away from the idea of child care as a part of family policy, towards a preschool in the education system focusing on the child’s development and learning.

Preschool ”Höjden”, Stockholm 1998.

61 The first question concerned the universal chool to school premises was managed in preschool for six year olds and the transition municipality after municipality and during from preschool to school and leisure-time the afternoons they attended leisure-time centres. The fundamental idea was that all centres. these forms should be integrated within the The preschool class, as a meeting place framework of the school and co-operate between the preschool, school and leisure- closely together. time centre, should provide the precondi- The school curriculum was revised to in- tions for different professions and compe- corporate the universal preschool for six year tencies to work together in teams. Preschool olds and the leisure-time centres. New terms teachers and leisure-time pedagogues would, were introduced into the curriculum which on the same conditions as compulsory school have their origins in the culture of preschool teachers, work pedagogically and teach in and leisure-time centres – play, exploration, the school. Child minders were also part of and creativity through pictures, texts and use the work team. of models. The model of a work team with From the beginning, the staff knew it different competencies based on the model would require both time and dedicated from preschool and the leisure-time centres work to implement integration between the was regarded as an important springboard preschool, school and leisure-time centres for the school’s development. in a way that would leverage the strengths It was now proposed that the preschool of their multiple traditions, and also create for six-year-olds, covering all children since something quite new. And the evaluations the very first Preschool Act of 1975 should would confirm what had been predicted; become a separate school form in the edu- change of this kind is not easily achieved cation system and be called the Preschool – it is built up over time. Class. This was a radically new proposal that Curriculum for Preschool had not existed in any of the commissions carried out earlier in the area. The other question concerned the preschool The preschool class became a part of the for children aged between 1-5 years. This school, without, however, being compulsory. would also be transferred into the educa- The transfer of six year olds from the pres- tion system. And now everything happe-

62 ned quickly, a bill on a curriculum for the an easy decision for the Minister for Schools preschool was submitted to the Riksdag in to take. The preschool curriculum would March 1998, and by June the same year the only contain goals to strive towards. More preschool had got its first real curriculum difficult was the question about preschool with legal provisions setting out pedagogical teachers and the work team. It was only after content in an ordinance. much discussion that the decision was taken The proposal for the curriculum for the that the curriculum should focus on all the preschool had been worked out by a state staff in the work team, and this included commission consisting of pedagogical ex- child minders, as well as preschool teachers. perts. The Government had to take a posi- The terms ”day care centre” and ”part- tion on a document which on the basis of time group” were now completely removed common foundation values set up the peda- from the Education Act and replaced by the gogical goals. The goals mirrored those that term ”preschool”. Family day care homes existed in the school curriculum, not only and open preschool were not covered by the the nature of the goals in terms of what the curriculum, but it would provide guidelines children should have achieved when they for them as well. leave preschool, but also the goals to strive The curriculum was received with great towards that should provide a focus for the enthusiasm by the staff. Now the preschool pedagogical work of the preschool. The cur- had finally achieved the status of ”education” riculum was addressed not only to preschool it had long aspired to, and this applied to the teachers, but also to all who were working in whole of the preschool for children from the preschool. the age of one until starting in the preschool After careful deliberations, the decision class - from an international perspective, this was taken to make some essential modifica- was indeed unique. Of course, preschool tions to the recommendations of the com- teachers and their trade unions would have mission. The idea that the curriculum for preferred it if the curriculum had been ex- the preschool should set up goals for the clusively addressed to preschool teachers i.e. individual child’s learning was hardly in line those with the higher education background. with the existing pedagogical traditions and Child minders on the other hand were cultures in the Swedish preschool. This was satisfied that they were part of the work

63 team and had a legitimate role to play as laid pedagogy - the child as an active, compe- down in the curriculum. But to remove any tent and exploring being, project and theme possible misunderstanding, all preschools re- oriented working approaches, and the demo- ceived a letter from the Minister for Schools cratic perspective on the child’s acquisition where she emphasised that she regarded of knowledge and learning. preschool teachers as indispensable in the The Reggio Emilia inspiration is based preschool. on respect for the child, a being with many resources, and curious, a child with a hund- Views on the child in the curriculum red languages, with his/her own dynamics The wide-ranging work carried out as part and desire to learn. The importance of the of the preparations for the curriculum for pedagogical environment and pedagogical the preschool communicated a view of the documentation for making learning proces- child’s development and learning which felt ses more transparent is used as a fundamen- familiar in preschool contexts, and yet at the tal tool. The fact that the Reggio Emilia same time was new. To a very large extent, approach became so widely disseminated this view builds on traditional preschool in Sweden could well be because in some pedagogy. Added to this was the new inspi- respects it resembled that of the Swedish rational thinking which the Reggio Emilia preschool, but in a more audacious and shar- approach had brought to the Swedish pres- per form. chool. On this dual foundation of tradition and Reggio Emilia, a Mecca in northern Italy renewal rests the curriculum of the Swedish for thousands of Swedish preschool teachers preschool - a concise yet precise document, and commissions, committees and ministers, containing goals and guidelines that pedagogi- had developed a preschool pedagogy that cal activities should strive towards. This docu- had become an important and extensive ment was the foundation that was submitted source of inspiration for the Swedish pres- to the professional staff so that they could chool. It is founded on Loris Malaguzzi’s create their own activities, based on a task, a (1922-1994) philosophy and pedagogy. This foundation value, and a democratic view of contains the fundamental characteristics the child’s development and learning. which are also part of Swedish preschool

64 Study group from Sweden outside the town hall in Reggio Emilia 1993.

Sergio Spaggiari, head of child care, and Professor Loris Malaguzzi 1989.

65 Maximum Fee and Universal Preschool Halve the fee for day care centres! (1999-2003) In the latter part of the 1990s, all the indica- tors showed that the economy would turn up- Preschool, but not for everyone wards. Unemployment decreased – and there was also a risk of inflationary bottlenecks in Is it possible to have a preschool in the edu- some industries. Families with children were cation system that is not open to all child- the group most severely affected by the bud- ren? At the end of the 1990s, this became getary measures, and the Government’s view an acute issue. The fees, which were now in- was they should thus be the first to benefit creasingly related to the time children spent from the improving economy. at the centres and parental income, had in- In August 1998, a couple of days before creased so much that some parents decided the Social Democrats published their elec- to opt for other alternatives to child care. In tion manifesto, some LO economists pu- order to put pressure on costs, the munici- blished an article in Dagens Nyheter (daily palities had also streamlined the organisation newspaper) under the title Halve the fee for - larger groups of children, lower child staff day care centres! ratios, and tighter rules determining which What the article focused on most was the children were entitled to preschooling. marginal effects that income and time re- Children of unemployed parents lost their lated fees for child care meant for women places in more and more municipalities, and with children, who were thinking about in- the children of parents on leave of absence creasing their working hours or getting a bet- experienced even greater difficulties in keep- ter paid job. The argument put forward by ing their places in the preschool. The muni- economists from the Trade union movement cipalities reorganised their finances, both by (LO) was that the best way of strengthening introducing higher fees and by reducing qua- the finances of families with children was to lity. Many of the children who were perhaps radically reduce the fees for child care. in greatest need of the preschool were not able to obtain a place. The 1991 goals set up for a preschool for all children had still Parents and children out demonstrating for the not been achieved. maximum fee in Stockholm 1999.

66 67 The Social Democrats obviously accepted could choose other alternatives or just use this and in their election manifesto presen- them as much as they really needed or were ted a proposal on maximum fees in child prepared to pay for. The maximum fee was care and an obligation for the municipalities in many respects controversial. The propo- to provide preschooling for the children of sals of the work group were circulated for the unemployed. In addition, an undertaking official comment, and the country was split was made to provide a universal preschool between those for and those against, along free of charge for all children from the age purely party political lines. The municipali- of four. ties under the control of the Centre-Right Already in the budget bill for the spring parties said no, whilst the Social Democrats the year after, funds were set aside for a argued the opposite. reform with maximum fees and a universal Even though the introduction of the preschool. An interdepartmental work group maximum rate was intended to be voluntary was charged with the task of developing pro- for the municipalities, and they would be posals on how the reform could be introdu- well compensated from state funds, it did ced by stages. encroach on municipal autonomy. It was important for the Ministry of Edu- A controversial reform cation that the whole reform package should The fees for child care were not only high, be included, even if it had to be introduced but they also varied widely throughout the in stages – not least the universal pre-schoo- country. In some municipalities the average For once, the Ministry of Finance was deeply fee for a preschool place was less than SEK involved in a proposal affecting the pres- 8,000 a year, whilst in others it was more chool. But interest was mainly restricted to than SEK 20,000. In one municipality, the the maximum fee and unemployment. The parent’s share of the cost was 31 per cent, Minister for Schools had to take the initia- yet in another just 8 per cent. There was also tive to drive the question of the universal in many municipalities a political attitude preschool. She was also very determined on which was in principle positive to raising having a built-in safety valve which was in- fees. In this way awareness of the real cost troduced into the proposal, and which stated of these services would be increased, people

68 that the Government undertook to return to initiative of the Green party, a year later it the issue if it turned out that the financing was also extended to cover children whose provided for the reform was insufficient. The parents were at home under the parental maximum fee should not jeopardise quality insurance scheme for taking care of another in preschooling. Special quality assurance child. A year later a maximum fee was intro- funds were thus paid out, in addition to duced, the implementation of which was vo- financing for the maximum fee itself. luntary for the municipalities. And all muni- For a long time the maximum fee was the cipalities introduced the maximum fee. On subject of intense debate in the press. Many 1 January 2003, a universal preschool free of critics had no doubt of its negative impact charge, was finally introduced for all children on quality. Queues would become long, aged four and five. group size would increase, and worst of all The maximum fee and a universal pres- children would have very long days in the chool free of charge was a major and im- preschool, as the time spent would not be portant reform, not just for the financial regulated by fees. In addition, it was consi- position of families with children, but also dered to be a reform that would only favour in terms of the recognition it gave to pres- middle and high income earners. chooling and school-age child care. By means One group which didn’t protest were the of this reform package, child care became parents themselves. Demonstrations and a truly fundamental part of general welfare processions were organised in municipalities that would benefit all children since fees which refused to introduce the maximum were either low or non-existent. Notification fee. Once again the protests were vehement, was also given of a zero fee. but this time it concerned the fees. Evaluation of the National Agency for Educa- Maximum fee and preschool for all children tion

On 1 January 2001, the first step in the re- What happened to quality? The National form was taken. Children of unemployed Agency for Education was given the task of parents received the right to preschooling, evaluating the maximum fee and reporting both in terms of obtaining a place and keep- annually. Their reports showed that the re- ing a place they might already have. On the servations expressed by the critics had not materialised in reality. The queues didn’t in-

69 crease, groups didn’t become larger, and the tion of income are lower today, since real time children spent at the centres didn’t be- salaries have increased by about 30 per cent come longer. On the other hand, many more since that time. After the reform, on average children now had access to the preschool. In a family had a reduction of SEK 12 000 in 2005 the proportion of children registered in the fees it paid each year. the preschool had increased to 77 per cent The idea that maximum fees was a reform from 68 per cent the year before the reform just for middle and high income families was implemented. In the groups aged bet- was not in line with the facts. Fees were also ween four and six years, more than 95 per substantially lower for low salaried single pa- cent of preschool children were involved. rents. As a percentage of salary, this was the And that was in fact the very purpose of the group to benefit most from the introduction reform. of the maximum fee. Follow-up studies carried out by the Na- tional Agency for Education showed, despite the increasing number of children, that the Quality in Preschool (2003-2006) education levels of the staff had been raised, and that the number of children per annual Raising quality worker had decreased as had the size of the It was difficult to restore quality to its state groups. The number of hours spent in the before the economic crisis of the 1990s. preschool was unchanged at 32 a week on Some improvements could be seen in staf- average for children whose parents were fing ratios and group sizes, but progress was working or studying. 20 per cent of the slow, and still some way into the 2000s qua- children stayed for periods of up to 15 hours lity had not been restored to the levels prior a week, which represented a doubling com- to the crisis. More funds for the preschool pared with the situation prior to the reform. was one of the major election promises in The maximum fee led to a major im- 2002. When a new Minister for the Pres- provement in the finances of families with chool was appointed in October, preschoo- children. The fees for child care today are ling was one of the areas in the Government essentially the same as at the beginning of Policy statement which was allocated addi- the 1990s. This means that fees as a propor-

70 tional state grants to fund staff increases in os in the municipalities would once again be the preschool. one adult to every five children, and group As a result of this, the Minister was able sizes would on average be 15 children per to tackle the issue of restoring and further staff member. The requirement that quality developing quality in the preschool. One in preschooling and school-age child care particular question concerned a new Edu- should be reported annually just like the cation Act, where the preschool could be school was also decided on. made into a separate school form integra- Other issues which were dealt with in the ted in the education system, on conditions bill were about the role of the preschool in a similar to other school forms. future Education Act. A parliamentary commission into the Education Act appointed The Preschool Bill in 1999 had submitted a report containing In September 2004, a bill was submitted far-reaching proposals for integrating the on the principles for quality in the pres- preschool in the Education Act by having le- chool to the Riksdag. In this, the Govern- gislation in all major respects common to all ment outlined how a special state grant school forms, including the preschool. This would be allocated to municipalities to involved dealing with terms originating from increase staff in the preschool. From 1 Ja- the school world, rather than the world of nuary 2005, SEK 5 billion was earmarked the preschool – school form, pupil, teaching, for the municipalities, starting with SEK head teacher etc all of which required care- 1 billion in the first year, and SEK 2 bil- ful deliberation. However, the Minister did lion in the second and third years. The- not propose any change in the tasks of the reafter funding would be incorporated in preschool. Transforming the preschool into the general state grant by raising the level a separate school form meant, however, that to SEK 2 billion. The funds would cor- municipalities in the future would not be respond to the cost of employing 6,000 able to deny a child a place in the preschool preschool teachers, child minders, and and provide a place in a family day care other staff - a 10 per cent increase in the home instead. This was an important quality number of employees in the preschool. In issue for preschooling. principle this meant that average staff rati- An investigation was carried out into

71 legislation concerning different staff catego- developed enabling the staff in the preschool ries. The principle was laid down that there to examine and analyse pedagogical material must be preschool teachers in all preschools, from a gender perspective. Another task was and that preschool teachers would have the to provide proposals to increase the recruit- overall responsibility for pedagogical work, ment of males to the preschool. but that child minders and other staff should In addition, the curriculum would be also be part of the work team. The repre- strengthened by incorporating mother ton- sentatives of the Swedish Teachers’ Union gue tuition in languages other than Swedish. and the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union, Children with an immigrant background appeared perhaps for the first time in history would receive support in the preschool not to be relatively satisfied with how the posi- only to develop their Swedish, but also their tion and role of both staff categories in the own mother tongue. On this very point, the preschool could be resolved. curriculum had been relatively vague and The question of care during the evenings, reflected the uncertain position which had nights and weekends was of particular in- long existed in the preschool and which had terest to the Minister, but no parliamentary resulted in dismantlement of much of the support was forthcoming for clarifying legis- system that had been built up to provide lation on this point. support for mother tongue tuition. Gender equality and multi-culturalism Listening to children’s views

The Minister was also very concerned about Allowing children to give their views on a the quality of pedagogical content in the bill in the Riksdag was unusual, if not uni- preschool. Special measures were taken to que. But this is precisely what happened. support gender equality and multi-cultur- They gave their views on the bill, what they alism in the preschool. A delegation was thought was good and bad, and what could established to allocate funds to development be improved. Trainee teachers had intervie- projects in order to strengthen and develop wed many hundreds of preschool children gender equality in the preschool and create aged between three and five on these ques- greater awareness of what the preschool tions. Before this, large numbers of drawings could achieve in this area. Tools would be and statements in writing from preschool

72 The art room of a preschool.

73 children had reached the ministry on the ini- And a lot of other different things. tiative of the Minister. “Do you learn anything at preschool?” – “Of The children said that the very best thing course, we learn to be clever and kind.” “Why about preschool was that they could play are you at preschool”? – “Because we’re child- there. Not unsurprisingly being able to play ren”. is the most important thing, their whole life A final comment circles around this. Children play outside and inside, they have their favourite games, Göran Persson, Prime Minister, speaking in and they create new games. When playing Björkvik in the summer of 2005, just one children are inventors, artists and resear- year before the election, says about the pres- chers. chool: “The best thing about day care is you’re ”I suppose you do remember what it was like free to be a child. You can play hide-and-seek, earlier, all the uncertainty about quality in climb in the climbing frame and do all sorts of preschooling, and especially whether you could other fun things” says Amanda, aged 5. get a place at all. And so we decided that eve- “When I play on my own I have a funny ryone should have a right to a place in public feeling in my tummy. It’s no fun. But when child care, that’s when we started expanding I can be with someone else it’s sunny in my it. It cost enormous sums of money during the tummy” says Ahmed, aged 5. 1970s. We then added a pedagogical dimen- What do children do in preschool? There sion and raised quality. Today a good place in are many things they do; reading books, writ- a day care centre is an unquestioned right, a ing, counting, drawing and painting, playing place that should be available at a time you games, carpentry, building, playing rock mu- need it with staff trained to do the work. My sic, eating fruit and singing, digging, playing friends, we will do precisely the same for the outside, baking, running a cafe, showing their care of the elderly as well”. parents what they have done, playing com- puter games, football, bandy, cycling, going on the swings, dressing up, playing theatre, doing jigsaw puzzles, have assemblies, clea- ning and tidying up – this is quite boring!

74 Freedom of establishment and out-of-school centres and pedagogical care strengthened educational mandate providers if certain conditions were met, (2006–2014) including the quality, safety and security standards required for corresponding public activities. With regard to pedagogical care, Freedom of establishment and the extended universal preschool grants were also to be given for the carer’s own children, but for no more of the carer’s During the tenure of the Social children than for the number of other Democratic Government – and following children enrolled in the service. a committee initiative by the Moderate The introduction of the childcare voucher Party, the Liberal Party, the Centre Party, system was intended to increase diversity in the Christian Democrats and the Green preschool activities and school-age childcare Party – the Riksdag adopted legislative through a greater variety of activity types. It amendments providing freedom of was also intended to provide more scope for establishment for independent providers individual initiatives and entrepreneurship in of preschools and out-of-school centres. the welfare area. At present, almost 20 per Following a proposal by the centre-right cent of all children in preschool are enrolled government, freedom of establishment in independent preschools. was also introduced on 1 July 2009 for Since 2003, four- and five-year-olds have other forms of preschool services and been entitled to universal preschool for school-age childcare. At the same time, the 525 hours per year. The bill in which the term ‘family day-care home’ was removed Government proposed the childcare voucher from the act and replaced by the new system also included a proposal to expand term, ‘pedagogical care’, a collective term the municipality’s obligation to organise encompassing family day-care homes as universal preschool education. Consequently, one of several possible alternatives. As a since 1 July 2010, preschool has been result of these amendments, municipalities offered to all children from the autumn term were obliged to approve and provide of the year in which they reach their third grants (through the childcare voucher birthday. system) to independently run preschools,

75 New Education Act and revised curriculum mathematical development, were thus clarified and extended. The objectives for Prior to the 2006 election, the Social natural sciences and technology also became Democratic Government worked to clearer and greater in number. The objectives complete a government bill on a new provide a direction for preschool educational Education Act, based on the report of activities. A new section was added as the 1999 Education Act Committee. well concerning monitoring, evaluation The report had been presented in 2002. and development. How evaluation was to However, the Government was unable take place in preschool had long been a to obtain a majority for its proposals controversial issue and was not addressed in the Riksdag, so no bill was ever in the curriculum. Finally, the authorities adopted. The work on a new Education responsible for preschools and the staff Act consequently had to be reinitiated now had some guidance in their work on following the change of government in monitoring and evaluation. September 2006, when the centre-right, The aim of evaluation is to obtain four-party government took office. In knowledge about the quality of the 2009, the Government also instructed the preschool that can be used to develop the National Agency for Education to propose activities to ensure that each child is given changes to the preschool curriculum in the best opportunities for development and the form of clarifications and certain new learning. sections. Following the presentation of the On 1 July 2011, the new Education National Agency for Education’s proposals, Act and the amendments to the preschool however, a working group was appointed curriculum entered into force. Preschool at the Ministry in 2010, which presented had now become an integral part of the new proposals to the Government that school system, with the aim of consolidating were then adopted in August that same its status as the first step of the education year. system and of enhancing its quality and The curriculum’s objectives for equity. This meant that several of the children’s language and communicative provisions in the introductory chapter development, as well as for their of the Education Act that apply to all

76 forms of school also applied to preschool, preschool head is both the educational including the overall objectives of leader and the head of staff, and has overall education. Moreover, the basic values for responsibility for running the preschool in the entire school system were set out, as accordance with the Education Act and the were regulations for systematic quality curriculum. Responsibility for quality at the enhancement. With a clear link to the preschool is also included. United Nations Convention on the Rights The new Education Act also required of the Child, it was made clear that the best every preschool to have qualified preschool interests of the child were to form the basis teachers who are responsible for teaching. of all education. The majority of assessments Preschool teacher certification was fully in- presented in the 2004 government bill on troduced in autumn 2012, and only certified preschools were carried out and have now preschool teachers can be offered permanent become legislation. In this way, preschool employment as preschool teachers. In addi- became a distinct form of school, and tion to preschool teachers, other staff may common regulations were established for also continue to work in preschools, inclu- municipal and independent preschools. For ding child minders, whose skills contribute example, the preschool curriculum also to the care, development and learning of the applies to independent preschools. The children. The educational responsibilities concepts of ‘education’ and ‘teaching’ would of preschool teachers were also clarified in now also apply to preschool. the curriculum. Some of the working guide- A new position as ‘preschool head’ was lines are now clearly directed at preschool introduced into the Education Act, with teachers who, accordingly, have been given the same qualification requirements as for the educational responsibility for children’s school heads. The educational activities at development and learning. There are also preschools are to be led and coordinated guidelines concerning individual responsi- by a preschool head, whose particular bility in the working team. Both preschool responsibilities also include developing the teachers and child minders, as well as others preschool’s activities. The responsibilities in the team, are to jointly design and carry of the preschool head were also clarified out the educational activities in order to in a new section of the curriculum. The meet the objectives of the curriculum.

77 Boost for Preschool the reform was students’ freedom of choice, i.e. the right to freely choose courses and The clarification of the preschool specialisations. The education programme curriculum also required increased was criticised, however, for excessive knowledge and enhanced teaching skills freedom of choice, a lack of sufficient among preschool staff. To strengthen the scientific grounding and the absence of skills of preschool staff, the ‘Boost for important areas of knowledge. One problem Preschool’ in-service training initiative with the programme was also that it was was implemented in 2009–2011. The aim often directed at broad age ranges, for was to help to strengthen the educational example 1–12 years and 12–19 years, which role of preschool and promote the resulted in students having difficulty gaining fulfilment of its objectives. Preschool the knowledge and skills appropriate for heads, preschool teachers and child the entire age range. In addition, too few minders participating in the Boost for students chose preschool as their future Preschool initiative received continuing workplace. professional development within the areas The new preschool teacher education specified in the curriculum, particularly programme started in the autumn term children’s development in language and 2011, offering a distinct specialisation mathematics, as well as natural sciences, on working in preschool and a clearer technology and evaluation. The Boost for professional identity compared with the Preschool initiative was extended several previous teacher education programme. As times and will be concluded at the end previously, the programme comprises 210 of 2015, when it will be replaced by a higher education credits, corresponding to new continuing professional development 3.5 years of full-time study. The primary initiative. teacher programme was introduced at the New preschool teacher education same time, comprising 240 higher education credits and entailing six more months of The teacher education programme, with education than previously. The programme a single teaching qualification, started in is offered with three specialisations: the 2001. One of the fundamental ideas of first focuses on work in the preschool class

78 Learning about letters.

79 and years 1–3 of compulsory school; the second on work in years 4–6; and the third on work in out-of-school centres. The specialisation on work in out-of- school centres is a three-year programme, however. The new preschool teacher programme is clearer, more structured and more spe- cialised, and has become more appealing, attracting many more applicants. This has created greater competition for places, re- sulting in a higher level of prior knowledge among students.

80 81 Afterword

This publication on the development When the book was published in 2006, she of preschool was commissioned by the wrote: “In a retrospective view of this kind, Ministry of Education and Research. it is easy to see the consistency with which It is based on oral sources, inquiries, Swedish childcare has been developed government bills, parliamentary records and how early on there was a clear vision and reports on preschools during the about its purposes and objectives. The period 1970–2006, and on material found development of childcare in Sweden in the bibliography. The text was written demonstrates what politics can achieve.” by Barbara Martin Korpi, formerly Senior She also cited a well-known English Adviser at the Ministry of Education and professor of economics, who said that what Research. By the time she retired in 2007, was extraordinary about Sweden was not she had worked for several decades at the that it had introduced its childcare model in Government Offices on issues concerning the early 1970s, but that it had succeeded in preschools and out-of-school centres, retaining it throughout the years. thereby taking part in most of the work described. She is personally responsible for the contents of this publication. This Stockholm, 29 april 2016 edition has been updated at the Ministry Ministry of Education and Research of Education and Research to include what has taken place during the period 2006–2014. The tables and statistics have been produced by the National Agency for Educa- tion. The quotations are from discussions Barbara Martin Korpi had while working with individuals, ministers and others who were responsible for these issues.

82 List of photos

-- Minister for Education, Gustav Fridolin, visits -- Prime Minister Olof Palme 1985, photo Jack a preschool in Sundbyberg, outside of Stockholm, Mikrut, Scanpix. photo Lasse Allard, IBL. -- Learning from each other 1978, photo Beppe -- Katarina child crèche in Söder in Stockholm Arvidsson. 1906, Stockholm City Museum. -- Minister for Schools, Göran Persson with school -- Engelbrekt’s child crèche in Stockholm 1909, children 1989, Ministry of Education and Stockholm City Museum. Research. -- Child crèche in Stockholm in the 1930s, -- Children at preschool celebrating Lucia 1991, Stockholm City Museum. photo Lennart Isaksson, Scanpix . -- Children in a kindergarden with their teachers, -- Preschool ”Höjden”, Stockholm 1998, photo Örebro County Museum. Magnus Hartman, Scanpix. -- The two sisters, Ellen and Maria Moberg, -- Study group from Sweden outside the town hall Norrköping City Archive. in Reggio Emilia 1993, privately owned. -- A kindergarden in Södertälje 1938, Scanpix. -- Sergio Spaggiari, head of child care, and -- Toddlers and child nurses at a day care centre Professor Loris Malaguzzi 1989, privately 1967, photo Stig A Nilsson, Scanpix . owned. -- The Palme family at their home in Vällingby -- Parents and children out demonstrating for the 1969, photo Jan Delden, Scanpix. maximum fee in Stockholm 1999, photo Cecilia -- Father and child 1978, photo Beppe Arvidsson. Larsson, Scanpix. -- Helping in everday work 1978, photo Beppe -- The art room of a preschool 2006, Mikael Arvidsson. Lundgren, Ministry of Education and Research. -- ”Hoa-Hoa” and his baby, poster on parental -- Learning about letters 2006, Mikael Lundgren, insurance 1976, photo Reijo Rüster, Scanpix. Ministry of Education and Research. -- Parents and children out demonstrating for -- Children from the Stella Nova preschool in day care centres and leisure-time centres 1975, Stockholm, photo Stella Nova. photo Lars Groth, Scanpix. -- “Welcome to Botos restaurant” – poster drawing -- Groups of children of mixed ages 1978, photo by children from Stella Nova, Stockholm. Beppe Arvidsson.

83 Tables and figures

Figure 1. Children born in 1975–2014.

Number of births 150 000

125 000

100 000

75 000

50 000

25 000

0 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013

Source: Statistics Sweden

84 Figure 2. All children aged 1–6/aged 1–5 in the population and the number of children in daycare/preschool, family day-care homes/part-time classes, 1975–2013

Total number of children 800 000

700 000

600 000

500 000

400 000

300 000

200 000

100 000

0 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Total number of children in the population Number of children in preschool Number of children in educational care Total number of children in preschool or pedagogical care

Source: National Agency for Education

85 Table 1. Full-year equivalent qualified employees in preschool in per cent, 2006–2014.

Number of full-year equivalent employees working with children. Total percentage of qualified employees

Preschool Recreation Teachers Child- Recreation Qualified No formal teachers instructors minders leaders in other qualifica- tions

2006 77 506 48 1 2 41 0 3 5 2007 80 396 49 1 3 40 0 2 5 2008 82 086 48 1 3 39 0 3 5 2009 83 715 50 1 3 39 0 3 5 2010 85 599 49 1 4 38 0 3 5 2011 88 872 49 1 4 38 0 3 5 2012 90 600 49 1 4 38 0 3 6 2013 91 675 49 1 3 37 0 3 6

Number of full-year equivalent employees working with children. Total percentage of qualified employees 2014

Total Degree in Degree in Bachelor/ Upper Some teacher No education preschool after-school Master of secondary training or training to education care Education programme work with education to work with children children

91 338 43 1 2 22 9 24

As of 2014, the information is based on individual data and data on the education of staff collected from Statistics Sweden’s Education Register. In previous data collections, municipalities reported information on staff education levels. As certain organisations under private management have chosen not to report information on the number of full-year equivalent employees in preschool, the figures for 2014 are somewhat lower.

86 Table 2. Children in preschool distributed between municipal and independent preschools 2006– 2014, in per cent

Municipal Independent Total preschools preschools

2006 83 17 100 2007 83 17 100 2008 82 18 100 2009 81 19 100 2010 81 19 100 2011 81 19 100 2012 80 20 100 2013 80 20 100 2014 81 19 100

Source: National Agency for Education

87 Children from the Stella Nova preschool in Stock- holm, photo Stella Nova.

Right, “Welcome to Botos restaurant” – poster drawing by children from Stella Nova, Stockholm 89 90