Early Childhood Education in Sweden

Sweden has a population close to ten million inhabitants, of which 550,000 are children under the age of eighteen. One-fifth of the population has roots from a foreign country. Eighty-one percent of mothers and 92 percent of fathers are employed, and thus the country has a great need for early childhood education programs. Almost 50 percent of one-year-old children, 91 percent of the two-year-olds, and 97 percent of the five-year-old children are in some kind of early childhood education program (Skolverket 2018, cited under Historical Development of Preschool). Early childhood education is in Sweden labeled preschool for children one to five years of age. For children between three and five years, preschool is free of charge for 525 hours a year (three hours/day); for hours above that, a maximum fee is charged of around 140 euros (a maximum of 2 percent of the income of the family member with the highest salary) for each child. Two percent of the gross domestic product in Sweden is spent on early childhood education and care. Preschool is financed by a combination of governmental and municipality subsidy and some family payment. The municipality is responsible for providing a place for each child at the latest four months after parents have asked for it. Children have the right to preschool if their parents do not work or have parental leave. The parental leave in Sweden is 480 days (sixteen months) shared between the mother and father, of which one of them must take at least two months. The parents keep about 80 percent of their salary during their parental leave, which due to the tax system means very little less money than normally earned. Around 20 percent of the preschools are private, but still these preschools are subsidized the same way as the municipality preschools and cannot charge more money than the municipality preschools. They are requested to use the same curriculum, an issue that is addressed in this article. There are also night preschools in about 120 municipalities, for children whose parents work at night. Most of the staff in preschool are educated: 54 percent are university-educated preschool teachers; 41 percent are nursery nurses (a two-year gymnasium education); and about 5 percent have no appropriate education.