Quasi-Market Regulation in Early Childhood Education and Care : Does a Nordic Welfare Dimension Prevail?

• Published in: Nordic Studies in Education
• Main Authors: Trætteberg, Håkon Solbu, Sivesind, Karl Henrik, Paananen, Maiju, Hrafnsdóttir, Steinunn
• Other Authors: Tampere University, Education
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: 516 Educational sciences; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/146536; https://doi.org/10.23865/nse.v43.4006

Until about 25 years ago, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Finland used a bureaucratic-professional governance model to reach common welfare goals in ECEC, something that arguably constituted a Nordic dimension. Since then, the countries have introduced post-bureaucratic governance models such as evaluation and quasi-markets in varying degrees. Differences in the timing of policy changes and saturation of demand have resulted in variations in the use of quasi-market instruments and divergence in the composition of public, for-profit and non-profit providers. However, common welfare goals, such as inclusion and language learning, have been strengthened. We base our analysis on existing research, statistics and policy papers. Peer reviewed