National policies aiming at marketisation and privatisation in welfare sectors such as Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) require governance and organisation to be realised. In Sweden, the municipalities are key but largely under-researched organisers for preschool quasi-market infrastructures. This study explores the different ways in…

This study examines how researchers and practitioners navigate between different discourses in a large-scale research-practice partnership (RPP). While argued to be challenging to conduct, RPPs are also argued to be promising for closing the research-practice gap in education. To contribute to our understanding of RPPs, 45 h of video recorded…

In UNESCO's recent publication "Education for Sustainable Development: A Roadmap" the idea of community is described as playing an important role in the organization of education for sustainable development as a means of supporting transformations towards sustainability. In the present study we examine the relationship between community…

A prominent phenomenon in education in Europe and internationally is the demand for research-based education, which is also the case in Sweden, the context of this study. Therefore, greater academic demands have been placed on teachers, which can present a distinctive challenge for teachers who were educated when teacher education prioritised…

The aim is to contribute knowledge about educators' beliefs about children's belonging in early childhood education. The study applies parts of Nira Yuval Davis's theory about the politics of belonging. Six group interviews were conducted with educators from four Swedish preschools. A content analysis is used as a first step, followed by a…

A sense of belonging is essential for children in preschool. During the past decade, there has been a striking change in the orientation of the Swedish preschool environment. Now more child observations tend to focus on individual skills and assessment of ability to handle future schooling. A new discourse is clear; one that moves from a group…

Using video-ethnographic data from a 'try-on day' in a bus-based mobile preschool, we discuss how children with different levels of experience collaborate with one another and with pedagogues to socialize newcomers into an ongoing community. Analyses show how pedagogues create moments of collective orientation and, besides through verbal…

Access to early childhood education has increased over the last two decades, with global enrolment rates showing gender parity in access among boys and girls. Despite this gender parity in access, the pre-primary education system does not always deliver on its potential to tackle gender inequities and address harmful gender stereotypes while they…

This article reports the Swedish results and experiences from the survey study "Educators' perspectives of belonging in early years education," which was part of the research project "Politics of belonging: Promoting children's inclusion in educational settings across borders". The purpose of the survey study was to gain…

In the present study, a didactic perspective was used to examine collaborations and negotiations between preschools and habilitation centres concerning intensive behavioural interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders in inclusive settings in Swedish preschools. The didactic triangle was used as the theoretical tool to analyse…

Increasing rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and younger age at diagnosis pose a challenge to preschool intervention systems. In Sweden, most young autistic children receive intervention service in community-based preschool programs, but no tool is yet available to assess the quality of the preschool learning environment. This study adapted…

Collaboration and continuity between school types are important factors that favor long-term learning and that need to be given attention in the transition between early childhood school institutions. This study highlights teachers' experiences of information sharing during the transition from Swedish preschool to preschool class (i.e., from the…

The study focuses on how preschool and musical school teachers experience working with El Sistema-inspired activity at two municipal preschools in a multicultural district in a medium-sized Swedish town. What, according to the educators,is the most significant aspect of working with El Sistema-inspired activities? The theoretical point of…

The aim of this study was to analyse how a model for practitioner-oriented research can be used as a tool for professional development in the preschool. The focus of interest is the type of knowledge that is formed when researchers and preschool staff cooperate on local projects, and what this new knowledge means for the images of professional…