Peer-reviewed article
Danish Early Childhood Education and Care
Anette Boye Koch, Hanne Hede Jørgensen ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This special issue presents research on Danish early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems and pedagogy. Denmark uses a child-centred, holistic approach emphasizing play, learning, and well-being through a pedagogical curriculum. In 2018, Denmark introduced a strengthened curriculum to better align ECEC practice with the Nordic pedagogical tradition and to maintain quality standards. The collection of research explores key areas including children's play, communities, transitions, and vulnerability.
Key points
- Since 2004, Danish ECEC settings have worked from a curriculum organized around six established themes, with detailed guidelines for local implementation
- A strengthened curriculum was introduced in 2018 to address concerns that the previous curriculum had moved ECEC practice away from Denmark's established pedagogical culture
- The strengthened curriculum emphasizes play, child-centredness, communities of children, and a broad concept of learning as foundations for children's well-being and development
- Danish ECEC follows a Nordic tradition of local, holistic, child-centred pedagogy
- Research focuses on quality cultures, children's transitions, aesthetics, and vulnerability in ECEC settings
Limitations
This is an overview of a special issue rather than an empirical study, so it does not provide evidence about outcomes or effectiveness of Danish ECEC approaches. The abstract does not present data on child outcomes or comparative evidence about the impact of the curriculum changes.
Abstract
Abstract This special issue presents a selection of current research on Danish early childhood education and care (ECEC) aimed at an international audience. The Nordic tradition of child-centred, local and holistic pedagogy is dominant within the Danish educational culture, but the Danish pedagogical approach is the focus of an ongoing dialogue involving political preoccupations with ECEC quality and what is best for the children’s development and learning. Since 2004, Danish ECEC settings have been obliged to work on children’s learning based on a pedagogical curriculum organised around six previously established themes prepared at each local ECEC centre according to specific guidelines. In 2018, a more detailed description of the content of the curriculum and a common pedagogical foundation was introduced in a strengthened curriculum – partly because the previous curriculum led institutions too far away from the existing pedagogical culture. The strengthened curriculum points to key elements such as play, child-centredness, communities of children and a broad concept of learning – to constitute the understanding and approach to work on children’s well-being, learning, development and formation in ECEC. New research from Danish professionals is presented, revolving around key areas in the strengthened curriculum in order to invite further dialogue with international colleagues about children’s play, fun and well-being, quality cultures, children’s communities, transitions, aesthetics and vulnerability.