Promoting children’s belonging in early childhood education and care: intentions in transnational and Swedish national policy documents

This article explores transnational and Swedish national policy intentions regarding the promotion of children’s belonging in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Through a thematic analysis of 30 policy documents from the EU, the OECD, UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Swedish government, we posed the following questions: To which communities should ECEC promote children’s belonging, according to intentions in transnational and Swedish national policy documents? What value tensions can be identified in the intentions to promote children’s belonging? The findings indicate that ECEC is expected to promote children’s belonging to a community of lifelong learners, the preschool community, the family, and a community of citizens. We identified value tensions concerning whether children’s family backgrounds are perceived as facilitating or hindering inclusion in ECEC, and whether having a first language other than the majority language is seen as an asset or a barrier to belonging. An important finding is that children’s family belonging is promoted less in Swedish policy than in transnational policy, and that value tensions related to family backgrounds are more prominent in Swedish policy. A conclusion of the study is that values attached to children’s family backgrounds shape whether their multiple belongings are enabled or constrained.