The purpose of this paper is to examine the sense of values that support ECEC practices in Sweden. We collected data by observing practices in a Swedish preschool and interviewing the teachers.
Our study found that ECEC education is emphasized more and more in Sweden. However, when we reconsider ECEC reform in Sweden from a socio-economic viewpoint, it seems clear that the scoolification caused in this process will establish a lifelong learning society that requires Sweden to maintain a welfare state.
Therefore, in the knowledge society based on lifelong learning that Sweden wants to create, there is a possibility that discussion based on the framework of “ECEC” and “school education” will no longer be possible. In short, Sweden is seeking a new way of educating young children through a third “lifelong learning approach”.