The degree project in Swedish Early Childhood Education and Care – what is at stake?

Abstract

This study deals with the undergraduate degree project in teacher training programmes for early childhood education and care in Sweden. For the study we draw on documents and qualitative interviews with teacher educators of different disciplinary backgrounds. The aims of this study were to identify discourses on the degree project in the field of early childhood education and care: (1) in documents; and (2) among teacher educators. Our study points to the tensions between discourses on the degree project as being of primary relevance for the vocational field, or as preparation for research activities. It also shows that varying perceptions on the degree project among teacher educators are largely related to different disciplinary fields. It further emerges that teacher educators have different views about text norms for the degree project, based on different underlying epistemologies to which the student teachers must adapt. We conclude that the multiple and often contradictory requirements of the degree project need critical examination and be reviewed. We also suggest an opening up for new and more creative ways of dealing with the degree project, with greater recognition of professional values and knowledges in the field.

Formación inicial de profesionales de educación infantil en Alemania y Suecia

“…Las reformas de los programas de formación de profesionales en EI que han tenido lugar en las últimas décadas han venido acompañadas de otras reformas que han tenido lugar a nivel nacional, y que han estado dirigidas a la integración de los servicios de EI bajo los auspicios de la educación (Arreman y Erixon, 2015).…”

Professional and academic knowledge in teachers’ research: An empowering oscillation

“…It was stated that TE should be an 'academic vocational education' (Swedish Government, 2008: 65). In Sweden today, the field of TE is still struggling to meet the twin demands of the graduate labour market and academisation, with a particular focus on academic writing (Erixon Arreman and Erixon, 2015;cf. Ivanič, 2004).…”

ECEC Students’ Writing Trajectories: Academic Discourse and “Professional Habitus”

“…In Sweden and many other European countries, the "academisation" of traditionally non-universitybased programmes goes along with increased emphasis on some kind of student thesis (Borg, 2007;Erixon Arreman & Erixon, 2015, 2017Erixon Arreman & Weiner, 2007;Gustafsson, 2008;Mattsson, 2008;Neuman, 2005). In this study, we explore students' perceptions of academic writing, including their experiences of "doing" academic writing on the way towards successfully completing a final degree project (FDP) in the undergraduate programme of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) that is provided within the Swedish higher education system.…”

“…Like many other vocational universitybased programmes, the practical relevance of the ECEC field is indisputablein Sweden, legal entitlement to childcare mainly applies to a child from the early age of 12 months to 12 years (Blomqvist, 2004;Dahlberg & Moss, 2005;Urban, 2009). In the last few decades, subsequent reforms of the university, including teacher education, have chiefly aimed at the "academisation" of the vocational fields; for students, the generally stricter demands are specifically visible in the "final degree project" (Erixon Arreman & Erixon, 2015, 2017Gustafsson, 2008;Råde, 2014). Parallel to this, national reforms of early childhood services included new emphases on knowledge, learning, and education along with "care", manifested in the mid-1990s by the transfer of responsibilities from the social sector to the national education system (Andersson, 2013;Dahlberg & Moss, 2005;Nyberg, 2008).…”

“…Early Childhood Education and Care is accordingly not an academic "tribe" in the way Becher (1994) envisions, but an interdisciplinary field or "reservoir" (Wolff, 2013). Drawing on Bernstein (2000), it has a horizontal knowledge structure composed by segments of knowledge from different topic areas and various fields (Erixon, Arreman, & Erixon, 2015, 2017; the combination of knowledge in the ECEC programme is related to its specific context, including early childhood as part and parcel of the Swedish education system, and a service that is directed to all parents within the public service system.…”