We discuss oral history interviews with academics who laid the foundation of research and pedagogies in daycare for under three-year-olds in Europe and North and South America since the 1970s. Their work is clearly embedded in the social-political context of their country: the left-wing programmes for disadvantaged families in the U.S.A.;…

This paper analyses the political motives that underlie the increased educational control exercised by reinstalling and reinforcing school inspection during the periods of 2001-2003 and 2006-2008. These periods cover both social democratic and non-socialist governments, with different parties in office. The paper draws on an approach to scrutinize…

Pleads for a more complex conceptualization of the policy process that considers the factors of time, policy areas, level of government, and nation. Available from The American Academy of Political and Social Science, 3937 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104; $15.00 annually. (Author/IRT)

Describes recent changes in Swedish system of child care and early childhood education and analyzes them in relation to economic and socio-political context. Argues that early childhood education is an important part of the welfare society, which itself is in a state of transition, with neo-liberal ideas and economic constraints implying financial…

In Sweden recent education policy has been aimed at the reform of higher education. This study is concerned with the political decisionmaking process in which a variety of public demands were articulated and reconciled in legislation for reform. It has three purposes: (1) analysis of this decisionmaking process; (2) reconstruction of the higher…

A summary report of a review of literature on the status of family day care in numerous countries around the world is provided. Materials were obtained from several databases, including ERIC (Educational Resource Information Center), Social SciSearch, Child Abuse and Neglect, Sociological Abstracts, Family Resources, and Third World Countries.…

A study of the evolution of the reform of Swedish higher education is summarized. The study focuses on the goals, dimensions, and organization of the change, discussed in the context of state intervention, public policy, planning, and authority in European higher education. Three theories of the development of higher education (interventionist,…

An institutional political process model for comparing social welfare policies is presented. Principal elements include each country's societal values, government institutions (operationalized as the role of interest groups), policy goals, and welfare system type. The model is demonstrated through a comparison of the dissimilar social welfare…

Proposed reform of Swedish teacher education is a mixture of support for educational excellence, for more comprehensive compulsory school teacher education, and for equal access to pre-service and inservice teacher education facilities, but overemphasis on geographical accessibility threatens the program's comprehensiveness. (MSE)