Early childhood education and care as a historically located place – the significance for parental cooperation and the professional assignment

Abstract

In this study, we analyze the views of professionals and student teachers on their relation to the parents, their assignment, and the distribution of responsibility for the child from the perspective of early childhood education and care (ECEC) as a place/space. In our analysis of space and place, we relate to the French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre. We analyze ECEC as a place, historically located in time and space, by defining the positioning and legitimization strategies relating to ECEC in Swedish society from three different periods: a contemporary place for learning with demands on parental involvement; as a place for new citizens in a collaborative model with parents, as preceded in ECEC in the 1970s and at the beginning of the 20th century; and a place for care provision and transmission of knowledge to the home. The theoretical standpoint that ECEC is a historical place means that we analyze the influence of the conceived, perceived and lived place on the relations to parental cooperation and the professional assignment.

Keywords

• the assignment
• early childhood education
• historically located
• parental cooperation
• place/space