From play to school: are core values of ECEC in Iceland being undermined by ‘schoolification’?

Abstract

Iceland has a strong tradition of universal public early childhood education and care (ECEC) services for children. The traditional pedagogy is founded on play-based learning with the holistic view of the development of the child is central to practice. With increased interest in education following the 2008 financial crisis, there are signs that playschool teachers are under pressure to produce ‘school-ready’ children by moving towards primary school teaching methods. This article considers the issue of schoolification in Iceland and its relevance to the tradition of play-based learning. It concludes that, although the majority of playschools adhere to the traditional play-based pedagogy, practitioners must be alert to the influence of schoolification on children's preschool experiences.

Keywords:

• ECEC
• playschool
• professionalism
• schoolification
• play-based learning

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Carmen Dalli at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, and Professor Emeritus Linda Miller at Open University, UK, for the invaluable support, supervision and feedback while writing this article.

The author would like to thank the editorial team of the International Journal of Early Years Education for their support with the development of this article. Views expressed are those of the author.