Since the end of the 1980:s when OECD published the Brundtland report, in which the concept of sustainable development as a critical global issue was introduced, the role of education for global survival has been frequently discussed and explored, by politicians as well as researchers. In school curricula and educational practice, efforts have…

In a general sense, the research interest of this article concerns the preschool class, which is an intermediate form of schooling for six-year-olds in Sweden, between preschool and school and their two traditions of "play" and "learning," respectively. In a more specific sense, the issue of learning one aspect of basic mathematics in this…

In recent years the OECD has undertaken the evaluation of early childhood education and care (ECEC) on behalf of ministers of education in a number of countries in order to support quality improvement in this field. This article is based on a workshop for the national coordinators of early childhood policy in Sweden, 2003, which dealt with…

In Sweden most of the young children are in preschool from early years. The government has taken responsibility by introducing different reforms such as child allowance, maternity leave, access to preschool for all children etc. Preschool (in Sweden for children aged 1-5 years and preschool class for 6 years old) is, since 1998, the first step in…