Att vila på demokratins grund : En idéanalys av förskolans demokratiska utbildning- nationellt och lokalt

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to analyse ideals of democratic education in the Swedish preschool in documents produced on a national level and on a local level. The study is an ideal-analysis and is based on a close reading of the national curriculum for preschool and quality documents produced by five municipal preschool authorities. The background for the study is the recent development of the Swedish educational system which involved the decentralized governing of the schools and preschools in the 1990´s, the increasing focus on measuring the educational quality and its consequences on the parts of education that can´t as easily be measured, such as the democratic ideals of education. The theoretical framework is based on curriculum theory and Gert Biestas theories about democratic education and democratic subjectivity. The results show that the national curriculum for preschool expresses multiple ideals of democratic education. The ideals that are being expressed on the local level differ significantly from the national level and expresses a much narrower ideal of democratic education. Results show that there are differences in how the local preschool authorities interpret the purpose of preschool and the purpose for their own quality work. Majority of the studied municipals focus on their own local goals instead of the goals expressed in the national curriculum for preschool. The results indicate that the local municipal authorities play an important role regarding the directions the democratic education in preschool take and which role the preschool can play in building and being a part of a democratic society.