This expert report provides insight into the development and implementation of systematic quality work – specifically, assessment and documentation practices – in Swedish preschools. These elements are examined in the context of balancing national goals for quality, locally tailored approaches to meeting standards as well as the coexistence of standardized and differentiated assessment of children.
Overview
As a key to children’s positive developmental process, the preschool years are getting more and more attention by international policy, science, and practice. Empirical longitudinal studies show that Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings can contribute to a positive child development through high quality services.
To meet the quality requirements, policy is interested in the establishment of quality development and management systems. While science and policy in Germany are currently discussing the implementation of national quality standards in ECEC, other countries already have legally founded and implemented quality management systems on a national level. Against this background, these countries’ experiences can offer an orientation and a source of information and provide important input to the German debate.
To derive benefit from existing experiences of other countries, the International
Center Early Childhood Education and Care (ICEC) at the German Youth Institute has assigned expert reports about the quality management systems to Australia and Sweden. The authors are scientists in the field of ECEC and have relevant experiences in quality development and monitoring. The expert reports give insight into Sweden’s and Australia’s ECEC systems and describe how the two countries deal with the issue of quality development and management. The methods of quality measurement are reported extensively and evaluated in the context of the current
political discourse.
Following expert report introduces the Swedish system.