A Becoming, Humanist Child: An analysis of Learning and Care in the Swedish Curriculum for the Preschool (Lpfö 18)

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Abstract

A new, revised curriculum for the Swedish preschool came into effect in July 2019. According to the National Agency of Education, it differs from its predecessor by putting a greater emphasis on care and teaching. This paper studies how the child is conceptualized in relation to learning and care in the new curriculum. Informed by a posthumanist approach and childhood studies, it scrutinizes how the child is positioned as a being and/or becoming child, an entangled and/or separate child, and, an active and/or passive child. Furthermore, it explores how the child appears in relation to human and non-human agents. The dominant, recurring conceptualization of the child is the child as becoming and passive. Learning and caring processes mainly come across as unidirectional - from adult to child – and future orientated. Although the preschool child is connected to a social context, the child predominantly appears as separate from others rather than entangled.

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Keywords

curriculum; early childhood education and care (ECEC); childhood studies; posthumanism; Sweden

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