This article explores preschool teachers' professional profiles in Sweden. Considering various educational policy reforms in Sweden the last decades, this study is grounded in interactionist perspectives and Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological model. A set of multiple professional indicators related to preschool teachers' educational background,…

In Sweden, preschool has been noted as being of a high quality compared to many other countries. However, dramatic changes in the preschool sector are taking place. A recent law states that it is a child's right to get a preschool place within a few months. As a consequence, the number of children in preschool has increased, which could influence…

The most important benefits of international comparisons are the indications that make hidden national characteristics visible and shed new light on the system in each country. From a comparative perspective, this article explores what Swedish and Norwegian preschool teachers emphasise as important to preschool student teachers about preschool as…

The purpose of this article is to analyse and discuss preschool teachers' views regarding competence within their profession in the context of home and preschool collaboration. The question addressed is as follows: In what situations do preschool teachers perceive that their competence becomes visible for parents? The results, based on interviews…

The aim is to investigate Swedish preschool teachers' accounts of children's learning in relation to the goals in the Swedish preschool curriculum. The research question is: "What do preschool teachers see as fundamental aspects of learning in preschool practice?" The study is based on interactionist perspectives founded in Urie…

This paper examines contemporary issues in early childhood teacher education in Sweden. The aim of the study was to explore dimensions of the construct of preschool teachers' competence as reported by 810 students enrolled in early childhood teacher education at 15 Swedish universities. The results showed that students' definitions of preschool…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the meaning that Swedish preschool teachers ascribe to systematic quality work. In Sweden, all preschools are required to work systematically with quality issues. This involves several interdependent steps that follow each other in a specific order. Although the concept of systematic quality work might…

Background: There is a limited amount of research about group size in preschool, and how it impacts on teachers' working conditions and their ability to support children's learning and knowledge development in line with curriculum intentions. Purpose: From a perspective on quality, this article examines the organisational conditions for children's…

Background: Historically, the meaning of teacher competence has changed and is continuously being re-constructed along with changes in society as well as with shifting values and intentions in preschool guidelines and curricula. Over the past decade, Swedish preschool has been incorporated as a part of the educational system, and has received its…

The aim of this article is to initiate a change of view on quality that goes beyond assumed dichotomies of subjectivity and objectivity. In the view presented here, pedagogical quality is seen as an educational phenomenon of "sustainable dynamism," that is a phenomenon that has structural characteristics and is culturally sensitive. The…

The aim of the study is to explore cross-cultural similarities and differences in preschool quality in South Korean and Swedish preschools as measured by two national adaptations of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). The approach adopted is that cross-cultural comparisons of preschool quality are both achievable and of great…

Four dimensions of pedagogical quality focusing on children's opportunities for learning and development in preschool are suggested. This article explores how they are constituted and how they can be used for evaluation to discern pedagogical quality as a whole and part of a whole and to understand how quality is experienced and valued from…

Compared self-evaluation of quality of preschool teachers in Sweden to the evaluation by an external evaluator using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale. Found moderately high percent agreement between teachers and evaluator and among teachers at the same unit. Found highest agreement among teachers on socialization and communication.…