A Historical Overview: Care and Education Intersecting with Status and Class in Swedish Childminder Education 1975-2011

Abstract

From a perspective of status and class, this paper delineates changes in Swedish childminder education. The data are policy documents, documents from childminder training, and interviews with educators. The analysis is informed by post-structural theory. The study shows that the status of the childminder program has shifted between high and low status, and led toward differently classed life trajectories at different times. One reason for these variations is that the emphasis in childcare has shifted from care to teaching. This has at times increased the status of the education and the vocation, but also subverted the demand for childminders.