Parents’ Perspectives and Public Preschool Policy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to shed light on the quality of preschool education from the perspective of Icelandic parents in light of Icelandic public preschool policy. The study also explored whether parents’ views had changed over a period of ten years. That ten-year period of time was characterized by enormous change in Icelandic society as it transitioned from being largely homogenous to diverse. During this same period, early childhood education internationally has also been confronted with challenges such as accountability and the pressure of academics.

Lilian Katz has proposed that the quality of preschool programs can be assessed from different perspectives (Katz,1993). In the top-down perspective, quality is assessed from the views of adults who run the preschools. Inside perspective focuses on quality from the perspective of preschool educators. The bottom-up perspective depends primarily on how the program is experienced by the participating children. The focus of this study is on what Katz calls the outside-inside perspective, which is how the program is experienced by the families it serves.

The study was inspired by socio-cultural perspectives and assumes that human life and values are culturally and historically situated and inseparable from the context and activities in which they are situated (Vygotsky, 1978). Barbara Rogoff (2003) focuses on people’s participation in their communities’ cultural practices and traditions. In her studies, she has shown that people develop as they participate in and contribute to cultural activities. She states, “Interpreting the activity of people without regard for their meaning system and goals renders observations meaningless” (p. 17). This study examines parents’ narratives and values in their social and cultural contexts. The following research questions led this inquiry:

• What aspects of preschool education do parents find important?
• Have parents’ views changed from 2006 to 2016?
• How do parents’ perspectives conform with cultural views presented in public policy documents?

As the study focuses on the outside-inside perspective, qualitative interviews were conducted with 26 parents of children in three preschools. Ten years earlier, focus group interviews were conducted with parents of children in the same preschools. Still located in various neighborhoods in the city of Reykjavik, all three preschools experienced changes in the 10 years that had passed since the previous study. Specifically, all became more diverse and one of the three saw an increase in the number of children attending, due to merging with another preschool (Jóhanna Einarsdóttir, 2010b). The original intention was to conduct focus group interviews with the 26 parents, but this had to be changed in order to accommodate the parents’ availabilities. Therefore, only one group interview with four participants was conducted. In addition, three interviews with three parents, five interviews with two participants, and three individual interviews were conducted.

The findings showed that parents’ views towards the pedagogy of the preschool were in harmony with the Nordic social-pedagogical model and the preschool policies of the Nordic countries. The parents were satisfied with the preschools’ holistic approaches and their emphasis on child-centered orientation and play. Interpersonal relationships, social competency, friendship, and respect for other people were stressed. Personal issues such as independence, safety, self-reliance, well-being, and personal strength were also emphasized. In spite of much change in Icelandic society and children’s realities during the last two decades, parental views on preschool pedagogy were almost identical to the views of parents a decade ago (Jóhanna Einarsdóttir, 2019).