Exploring the uneven landscapes in early childhood education and care provision: The role of local authorities and governance in Germany and Sweden

Many early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems face both growing social and cultural heterogeneities of families and increasing societal inequality. In decentralised systems, municipalities are usually responsible for organising adequate provision. Thus, local authorities, together with providers, shape local ECEC landscapes as an important place for children to grow up in. However, locally varying provision patterns may undermine equality in access to services. The paper therefore addresses the role of local ECEC administrations in the making of provision, and the ‘spaces of discretion’ which they have at their disposal to fulfil this task. The aim is to explore comparatively how the authorities, by (not) using discretion in governance, may contribute to spatial inequalities in service provision. To this purpose, the paper draws on qualitative data collected in four municipalities in Germany and Sweden. Semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with officials from local ECEC administrations and providers. Findings suggest that local authorities use discretion differently in the making of provision in their specific context. The way they govern diversity of providers and interact with the private sector to promote expansion contributes to considerable disparities in local provider landscapes. The results feed into debates about the ‘making’ of uneven spatialisations in ECEC and access inequalities, by shedding light on the role of ECEC administrations and the different dimensions of discretion they use (or not) in local service production. By comparing the two countries, common challenges for local governance to balance provider pluralism and equal access are addressed.