Abstract
In this chapter, we examine how the states and municipalities govern the non-economic aspects of the ECEC sector in the five Nordic countries. We study the use of hard governance tools, like legislation and supervision, and the use of national curriculum. We also study softer means of governance like the use of manuals and evaluative steering. The core question is: have the more diverse set of providers of ECEC that we documented in Chap. 4 resulted in more active regulation, steering, and supervision from the public sector? We find growing use of state steering in a sector where much discretion has traditionally been left to the local level—municipalities and individual units. Further, we also see a growing use of manuals and evaluative steering tools. Evaluative steering has a distinct nature in the ECEC field, where it is more focused on enhancement-led approaches in which the ECEC environment, curriculum, and ECEC practices are the focus of evaluation. The growing presence of for-profit providers is one reason for the enhanced public sector governance, but an increasing role for ECEC in the educational system is also a driver for increased public control of the service.
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Trætteberg, H.S., Sivesind, K.H., Paananen, M., Hrafnsdóttir, S. (2023). Reigning in Provider Diversity? Regulation, Steering, and Supervision. In: Privatization of Early Childhood Education and Care in Nordic Countries. Palgrave Studies in Third Sector Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37353-4_5
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