Worldviews and National Values in Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care Curricula

Abstract

This paper examines how worldviews and national values are displayed in the national (Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) curricula of Sweden, Finland and Norway. The specific interest is to investigate what similarities and differences there are between these three ECEC curricula with regard to the position of religions and other worldviews. ECEC is often the first societal arena for children to enter and to negotiate their personal values, worldviews, and memberships in relation to the values represented in the surrounding social context. Countries employ different policies for dealing with diversity. Home languages for example, are often supported whereas for home cultures and worldviews, the policies and practices are more varied across contexts. By utilising a curriculum analysis informed content analysis, this study examines the curricular ECEC framework in each country context, highlighting the displayed national value preferences connected to worldviews. The study shows that these three Nordic countries have both similarities but also significant differences in the ways in which they approach the inter-relatedness of the aims of national values and worldview.