The impact of neoliberalism on Icelandic kindergarten work

For the last decades neo-liberalism has been growing as a political ideology, globally as well as nationally. In Iceland the manifestation of neo-liberalism is mostly noticeable in discourses related to deregulation, accountability, choice, and privatization, both in the school system as well as in...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dýrfjörð, Kristín
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:Icelandic
Published: School of Social Sciences 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tf/article/view/3734
Description
Summary:For the last decades neo-liberalism has been growing as a political ideology, globally as well as nationally. In Iceland the manifestation of neo-liberalism is mostly noticeable in discourses related to deregulation, accountability, choice, and privatization, both in the school system as well as in wider society. The aim of the article is to explore the influence of neo-liberalism on the Icelandic preschool system. Among influential forces in Icelandic society is the Iceland Chamber of Commerce which published a futuristic vision of, among other things, how to run the preschool system. Those ideas will be scrutinized especially in connection with the development of the legal frame for preschool as well as public discourses. The conclusion is that neo-liberal influences have become rather obvious on the preschool´s public structure. The neo-liberal ideology has been a constructive force as is apparent in the new act of law on preschools from 2008 and how they have been implemented. Nýfrjálshyggjan hefur verið fyrirferðarmikil í hinu opinbera rými í alllangan tíma. Hérlendis hefur hún m.a. birst í áherslu á að breyta orðræðu samfélagins yfir í tal um regluslökun, ábyrgðarskyldu, val og markaðsvæðingu. Í greininni er leitast við að skoða áhrif nýfrjálshyggjunnar á íslenska leikskólakerfið. Lykilskjöl um málefni leik skólans eru skoðuð með greiningarlykil Hursh og aðferðafræði orðræðugreiningar að leiðarljósi. Meðal þessara skjala er framtíðarsýn Viðskiptaráðs Íslands, Ísland 2015. Rýnt er í þær hugmyndir sem þar koma fram og þær settar í samhengi við þróun laga ramma og opinberra tilmæla um leikskólann hérlendis. Lög um leikskóla, reglugerðir og ýmsar skýslur sem snúa að leikskólastarfi eru einnig skoðaðar. Niðurstaðan er að áhrif nýfrjálshyggjunnar séu mjög greinileg á umgjörð leikskólastarfs eftir síðustu aldamót, og að hugmyndafræði hennar hafi orðið fyrirferðarmeiri og haft mótandi áhrif á leikskólann. Þau áhrif kristölluðust í lögum um leikskóla 2008 og hafa sýnt sig í framkvæmd þeirra.