Abstract
This research focuses on Sweden's early childhood education and care reform. In particular it concentrates on the period between 1972 and 2011, i.e. from the unification of nursery school and kindergarten education until the revision of the national preschool education curriculum. Trends during this period are analyzed from the point of view of the relationship between the ECEC system and the welfare state. It is suggested that since the 1930s, Sweden, as a welfare state, has pushed forward a policy aimed at guaranteeing the public availability of high quality, democratic early childhood education and care. During the years that intervened, early childhood issues shifted from parenting support to school education in policy. During this period, the meaning of early childhood care changed from being a social welfare system aimed at population growth to being a new education system. This new education system seeks to create human capital which is considered the foundation of the welfare state.
