When the political agenda on behalf of the children is running away with the concept of learning

In this paper, I will discuss the meaning of the current political agenda of efficiency in early childhood education for children’s everyday lives. Furthermore, the paper will discuss how theoretical psychology plays a part in the development of educational policies and practices.

Taking a historical view of a number of research projects in which children’s everyday life in daycare settings and in schools has been studied, it becomes clear that ‘the Era of Acceleration’ is not ‘just’ an academic abstraction or construction that is above or outside real lives. It is reflected in the practices in institutional settings and even pushing further in the children’s everyday lives in families. It is something that is represented through political documents and laws, societal structures, and actual persons participating in the institutional settings, in ways that have meaning for children’s possibilities to participate, learn and develop (and relax).

This paper will elaborate on the dialectic between theoretical psychology, a broad concept of learning, policymaking and the development of learning arrangements for children in the era of acceleration. The paper will analyse the way in which theoretical understandings of the concept of learning are represented in the new law for daycare in Denmark and how societal arrangements develop and change in response to sometimes misunderstood views on what is best for children in transitions from e.g. preschool to school.