I demokratins vagga : en essä om demokratins väg på förskolan

Sammanfattning: This essay is about how basic democratic values are formed in preschool. I have focused on children´s abilities to take on responsibility and also, on the importance of relationships in the development of democratic values in preschool. This essay starts in self-perceived dilemmas, based on my own feeling that the children should have more rights and that the preschool often has too many unreflected rules and routines. The dilemma has been reflected on and has been discussed in relation to other theories. I have also reflected on my own behavior as a teacher and to what extent this behavior has influence on the outcome. The relationship between the governing documents and the work in preschool has been reviewed with the conclusion that they are not synchronized with each other. The investigation shows several examples of the meaning of a good working relationship between teacher and child and that children´s own sense of responsibility should be taken seriously and be recognized as a resource. In the discussion with the theories a connection between democracy, relationships and children´s responsibility was detected. The meaning of a good working communication and the teacher’s significance for the development is central and is made visible and problematized. The concluding words show how the approach to democratic and fundamental values must come to a change in preschools, a change that the teacher partly is responsible for. The preschool itself must be changed to fit into the society of today.