A noisy silence about care: Swedish preschool teachers’ talk about documentation

This article investigates what happens to institutional narratives of care in Swedish preschool when a policy on increased documentation is introduced. Questions deal with preschool teachers’ professionalism as expressed through the teachers’ talk about documentation. The analysis is based on theories in education policy, teacher professionalism, and institutional narratives. The results show that that the few references made by the teachers to narratives of care are subordinated narratives of learning. A major conclusion is that narratives of care are in a process of becoming a noisy silence, which influences teachers’ professionalism as well as shaping our common society. Introduction Human society is built on the relationship of being cared for and care for others (Bauman 2007). In different situations and stages of life, all of us have needs that we cannot fulfil ourselves. Interdependence has generated institutions such as childcare, hospitals, and eldercare. It has been suggested that the professions involved in such welfare institutions are based on an ethics of care (Sevenhuijsen, 1998) that for preschool has been described carefully by Osgood (2012). However,