Abstract
This chapter presents a conceptual framework, helpful when implementing, communicating and practising democratic education in educational contexts. The framework illustrates democracy in early childhood education as integrated in a dynamic context where political, structural, cultural, professional and personal ideas on democracy inevitably are involved. Four distinct dimensions are outlined, influencing the preschool practice, directly and indirectly through interplay with each other. The framework is assumed to rest on a definition of democracy as a complex, dynamic concept carrying values such as justice, equality and rights. Further, as a learning object, democracy calls for interpretation and concretisation, done in formal steering documents but also in everyday interactions between teachers and children. Democratic education takes place in social, political and cultural contexts, related to local, national and global circumstances. Finally, social and interactive aspects of education are essential in children’s individual and collective learning when practising democracy.
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Hägglund, S., Löfdahl Hultman, A., Thelander, N. (2019). The Preschool as an Arena for Democratic Education: A Framework for Teacher Roles and Child Outcomes. In: Margrain, V., Löfdahl Hultman, A. (eds) Challenging Democracy in Early Childhood Education. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, vol 28. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7771-6_2
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