Journal of Curriculum Studies
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tcus20
Belonging and participation as portrayed in the
curriculum guidelines of five European countries
Barbara Piškur, Marjatta Takala, Anita Berge, Liselotte Eek-Karlsson, Sara M.
Ólafsdóttir & Sarah Meuser
To cite this article: Barbara Piškur, Marjatta Takala, Anita Berge, Liselotte Eek-Karlsson,
Sara M. Ólafsdóttir & Sarah Meuser (2021): Belonging and participation as portrayed in
the curriculum guidelines of five European countries, Journal of Curriculum Studies, DOI:
10.1080/00220272.2021.1986746
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2021.1986746
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Published online: 29 Oct 2021.
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JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2021.1986746
Belonging and participation as portrayed in the curriculum
guidelines of five European countries
Barbara Piškur a, Marjatta Takala b, Anita Berge
Sara M. Ólafsdóttir e and Sarah Meuser f
, Liselotte Eek-Karlsson
c
,
d
a
Senior Researcher and a Senior Lecturer Faculty of Health Care; bProfessor of Special Education; cAssociate
Professor Department of Early Childhood Education; dAssistant professor Department of Education and Teachers
Practice; eAssistant professor School of Education; fLecturer & Researcher Faculty of Health Care
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS
This study seeks to explore how the belonging and participation, as well
as its related concepts, are framed in the national curriculum guidelines of
the Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. We employed
a scoping study with concept-mapping methodology. The results reveal
macro level principles related to human rights and values, multiliteracy
and language, policy measures and ideologies. Meso level principles
stressed that education is supposed to guarantee a child’s overall development and skills acquisition, participation involvement in the activities
related to a child’s environment and cultural heritage. The micro level
principles were indicative of the need for inclusive and accessible physical
and social environments, along with teaching methods which foster
positive attitudes about diversity and teachers’ expertise levels to address
diversity. We also found the importance of designing opportunities that
encourage socializing, building relationships, and belongingness.
Additionally, the results show how frequently the chosen key concepts
are represented in the guidelines. Based on our study we can conclude
that curriculum guidelines do not provide sufficent frameworks for promoting children’s belonging and participation. Further exploration on
those concepts is needed, along with increased scholarly attention within
the spheres of ECEC and compulsory education practice to enable inclusion for all children.
Belonging; participation;
ECEC; compulsory curriculum
guidelines analysis; Europe
Introduction
The member states of the European Union have devoted a great amount of interest to their
educational policy and recognized it as ‘the foundations for improved competences of future EU
citizens’ (European Commision, 2014). The aim of this cross-cultural study is to explore how the
belonging and participation, as well as its related concepts, are framed within the national policy
documents—namely curriculum guidelines (also called curriculum frameworks)—of early childhood education and care (ECEC) and/or compulsory education in the context of five European
countries: the Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Rather than a comparison
between these curricula, we aim to scope how these concepts are presented in curriculum
guidelines. Policy is a key term in this paper. As yet, there is no clear consensus on how to define
policy. Definitions and conceptualizations of policy are drawn from different disciplines including
education, anthropology, sociology, and political science. Policy is a summarized set of principles
CONTACT Barbara Piškur
barbara.piskur@zuyd.nl;
300, 6419 DJ Heerlen, The Netherlands
Zuyd University, Faculty of Health Care Team Masters, Nieuw Eyckholt
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
2
B. PIŠKUR ET AL.
that has been authorized to establish broader parameters of action (Tahir, 2007). Policy can be
seen as a static written text with a history of negotiation and compromise (Bell & Stevenson, 2006;
Taylor et al., 1997). Conversely, other authors (e.g. Rizvi & Lingard, 2010) consider policy as
a (dynamic) process, which involves both the production and implementation of the policy text.
In this study we analyse and interpret curriculum guidelines as static written text following the
definition of Ozga (2000, p. 33) saying that a policy text is a ‘vehicle or medium for carrying and
transmitting a policy message’. In this study we take a closer look into policy texts of five different
countries with an understanding that globalization has an impact on national education policies.
Some scholars of global education policy argued that globalization processes have set the stage
for new types of power on national educational systems, creating new and more globalized
education policy discourses and a more formalized global policy architecture (Rizvi & Lingard,
2010). There is an increase of cross-national educational policy borrowing (Mundy et al., 2016). The
neo-liberal approaches, for example, that emerged in Anglo-American states were rapidly picked
up around the world and became the vernacular for the global policy including international
comparison of the educational performance as widely accepted view of educational success
(Mundy et al., 2016).
This study explores belonging and participation in ECEC and compulsory curriculum guidelines
in order to gain new knowledge that will contribute to inclusive education. An international
perspective should be approached with careful consideration as meanings could differ in cultures
(Lingard & Gale, 2010). This study is part of a larger NordForsk funded research project under the
thematic programme ‘Education for Tomorrow. The title of the research project is ‘Politics of
belonging: Promoting children’s inclusion in educational settings across borders (nr. 85,644)’. The
project aims to advance knowledge on how children’s belonging is constructed in the intersection
between micro- and macro-level politics in different educational settings (across involved
countries).
The role of curriculum, and a description of the education systems in the five countries
While there are many similarities across Europe in relation to the design and implementation of ECEC
and/or compulsory education curricula, the cultural values and wider understanding of childhood
differ between each country, region, and programme (DG Education and Culture, 2014). The increase
of global cross-national cooperation in education has both encouraged and enabled educational
theorists and practitioners to look ‘over’ the borders of their nations in order to exchange and
transfer ideas for educational improvement (UNESCO, 2015). The literature (Autio, 2017; Tahirsylaj
et al., 2016) shows two cross-national influential curriculum traditions: the German-based Bildung/
Didaktik theory and the Anglo-American-based curriculum theory. The Anglo-American curriculumthinking started from administrative needs; the goal was to have an effective, functioning system,
which could solve practical problems with little interest to understand and see the intellectual,
systematic and complicated nature of curricula (Autio, 2019). The Bildung/Didaktik theory is
a teacher—rather than a system-centred—theory. In more recent literature, it has also been termed
the German-Nordic Didaktik tradition (Autio, 2019; Bladh et al., 2018). It celebrates the individuality
of teachers as active and reflective curriculum designers, as well as decision-makers, rather than as
implementers of a workplace manual (or curriculum) of best practices (Westbury, 2000). This tradition can also be seen as resistance to, or refutation of, American industrialism, capitalism, and
commercial values (Autio, 2017). The curriculum-tradition led to a standardized educational policy
(Rizvi & Lingard, 2006), which has been shifting its focus to be more cognitivist- and constructivistoriented. Within this tradition, the teacher’s role is that of an invisible agent of the system (Westbury,
2000).
A curriculum is an important instrument for shared understanding and trust between children,
staff, and parents. It is typically designed to facilitate learning and development so as to guide the
work of ECEC and/or compulsory education at a national and local level (DG Education and Culture,
JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES
3
2014). For example, an explicit curriculum which provides clear purposes, goals, and approaches for
the education and care of young children can significantly support the role of practitioners in
creating effective learning environments (Oberhumer, 2005; Rayna & Laevers, 2011). A flexible
curriculum, however, can also be desirable for educators in that it allows for greater autonomy in
planning for children’s learning (MacNaughton, 2003). It is important for educational institutes to
adopt a ‘framework approach’ when designing and developing their curriculum on the institutional
level based on national curriculum guidelines (UNESCO, 2017).
Four of the five countries studied are Nordic, and share similar educational systems; the so-called
Nordic model of education grounded in the Didaktik tradition (Autio, 2013a, 2013b; Wermeke &
Prøitz, 2019). This model used to refer to several educational similarities in the Nordic countries
during the second half of the 20th century (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). These
shared principles include reforms aimed at furthering social justice, equality, and cohesion (Arnesen
& Lundahl, 2006; Lundahl et al., 2018). The education provided is of high and equal quality,
regardless of the children’s resources, origin, or location. However, the rise of neo-liberal politics—
with its extensive marketization and privatization practices—in Nordic countries, and particularly
within the Swedish education system, has raised serious doubts over the survival of the Nordic
model (Lundahl, 2016). Educational development in other countries, such as the Netherlands, has
followed the more Anglo-American-based curriculum theory or a mix of both. All of the participating
countries (except the Netherlands) have a separate curriculum guideline for their ECEC, and the
starting and ending ages vary by country. ECEC is voluntary in all five countries. The starting age for
compulsory primary education varies between four and six.
Until the age of four, young children in the Netherlands can attend a variety of non-compulsory
ECEC options (e.g. nursery schools, playgroups or childminding). While schooling is only compulsory
in the Netherlands from the age of 5, over 99% children begin their education at the age of 4 (CBS,
2019; EACEA, 2012). Compulsory education is based on national curriculum guidelines. The overwhelming majority of primary schools are state-run, with only a handful of private schools existing in
the Netherlands.
In Sweden, children between the ages of one to six can attend ECEC. Children must begin
a compulsory preschool class the year they turn six. Comprehensive school is compulsory for all
children from the autumn they turn 7 until the age of 16. Preschool classes, school, and recreation
centres have a common curriculum. Sweden has several private ECEC centres and schools.
In Iceland, as in Sweden, children between the ages of one to six can attend ECEC and begin
compulsory school the year they turn six. Compulsory school lasts for 10 years (i.e. children finish at
the age of 16). 16% of Icelandic ECEC centres are private (Statistics Iceland, 2019). All schools must
work according to the national curriculum guidelines, regardless of their public or private status.
In Norway, children are entitled to a place in ECEC centres when they turn one year of age. All
licenced ECEC institutions are legally obliged to follow the ‘Framework plan for kindergartens’. 53%
of Norwegian ECEC centres are private. Compulsory school, (of which 4% are private), runs from
between the ages of 6–16. The national curriculum includes the core curriculum for primary and
lower secondary, upper secondary, and adult education.
In Finland, children between the age of one to six can attend ECEC programmes. Children attend
compulsory preschool at the age of six. They start school at age 7 and end at 16. All three systems,
(ECEC, preschool, and school) have their own curriculum. Finland has almost no private schools, but
many private ECEC centres.
Theoretical perspectives on belonging and participation
Conceptually, ‘belonging’ concerns social locations, identifications, and emotional attachments, as
well as feeling safe and ‘at home’ (Yuval-Davis, 2011). To be able to feel at home in an unfamiliar
environment (place) is not just a personal matter, but also a social one. This means that one’s
personal, intimate feeling of belonging to a place should always be joined to discourses and
4
B. PIŠKUR ET AL.
practices of socio-spatial inclusion/exclusion; belonging cannot be an isolated and individual affair
(Antonsich, 2010). This is where the ‘politics of belonging’ enters the scene. Politics of belonging
focuses on how belonging operates in society, and how it is influenced by political and societal
powers, ideologies, norms, values, restrictions, and regulations either in society as a whole and/ or in
specific contexts (Lähdesmäki et al., 2016; Yuval-Davis, 2006). Values and ideologies are changeable,
meaning that the boundaries between groups and individuals are often created and maintained
(Yuval-Davis, 2011). Thus, belonging is more than an individual feeling; it is also a political issue with
collective consequences. There is a political struggle to promote a specific position in the construction of the collective, as well as boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’ within it. This means that
boundaries operate at the intersection of politics of belonging and belonging (Yuval-Davis et al.,
2019). This study focuses on how national curriculum guidelines describe belonging, participation
and its related concepts. It means to investigate which values and ideologies (politics of belonging)
the political macro-level seeks to transfer to the institutional level and daily practice.
Education (both ECEC and/or the compulsory variety) is contextualized and has the social
function to secure a child’s development through their participation in the group to which they
belong (Bitterberg, 2013). The human and the environment are thus inextricably linked and cannot
be viewed separately (Taylor, 2013; Weldemariam et al., 2017). The possibility for children to
experience belonging is therefore conditioned by simply being present in the context (attending),
as well as having the personal abilities necessary to be involved in activities. Attendance and
involvement can also be described as participation (Imms et al., 2016; Piškur et al., 2014; WHO,
2001). Children’s participation and belonging are interdependent; involvement develops through
relationships with others and provides feedback that influences future engagement (Hitch et al.,
2014; Imms et al., 2016; Wilcock, 2007). To conclude, in our context, children’s possibilities to
participate in education activities and occupations (play, dressing, school tasks, sports, studying)
depends on how the politics of belonging operates in the specific setting and in its extension. It is
therefore a political question emanated from overall political agendas.
One of the important features of ECEC and/or compulsory education curricula is a strong focus on
communication, interaction, language, and dialogue as key factors that sustain children’s learning
through meaning-making and belonging (European Commision, 2014; Peers, 2020). Previous work of
our Nordic research group has stressed the importance of the value system in education. For
example, Einarsdottir et al. (2015) showed that policies guide actors within ECEC to provide young
children with a democratic environment that facilitates both learning and caring. However, the value
fields of democracy, caring, and competence comprise multiple dimensions and meanings, such as
a) ‘democracy’ as being and/or becoming; b) ‘care’ as the fulfilment of basic needs and ethical
relationships; and c) ‘competence values’ as learning for sociality and academic skills. Researching
values education in Sweden, Emilson and Johansson (2009) reported that preschool children
typically encounter caring, democratic, and disciplinary values. Furthermore, the literature (Bakken
et al., 2017) indicates that participation attendance seems to be influenced by the opportunities
offered in the classroom environment, where children could experience a sense of belonging and
trust, and develop social interaction skills. Further research (Tillet & Wong, 2018) has demonstrated
that educators have a strong sense of social, emotional, spatial, and temporal dimensions of
belonging, but lower levels of understanding regarding cultural or political dimensions. Moreover,
as noted in an Australian study, belonging is not easy to implement, observe or empirically
demonstrate (Selby et al., 2018) in ECEC. One way to conceptualize and study it, would be to look
at participation. All the curricula emphasized sociocultural, human development approaches.
A study focusing on qualified ECEC educators (Tillet & Wong, 2018) described them as having strong
senses of several dimensions of belonging but showed that educators had a less comprehensive
understanding on cultural or political dimensions. Belonging was considered a key concept in the
development of the Australian ECEC national curriculum that ties belonging to language as a means
of redefining ECEC approaches (Peers, 2020).
JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES
5
There is widespread agreement on the significant contribution that senses of belonging and
participation have towards the learning and development of young children. However, little is
known regarding how national curriculum guidelines inform and facilitate educators to create rich
learning environments that welcome diversity, develop a sense of belong, help build social relationships, and offer opportunities for children’s participation in educational activities and play.
Material and methods
We used a scoping study methodology (Arksey & O´Malley, 2005; Levac et al., 2010) to ‘map’ relevant
key concepts in the curriculum guidelines for ECEC and compulsory education from the participating
countries in relation to politics of belonging, and belonging with its related concepts, from these
curricula. While many types of scoping studies exist in the literature (Anderson et al., 2008;
Colquhoun et al., 2014; Pham et al., 2014), we opted for ‘concept mapping’ in this study. Concept
maps were introduced by Novak and Cañas (2006) to activate or elaborate (prior) knowledge in
education, though has been used also widely in research (often in scoping studies). There is a variety
of concept map characteristics. In this scoping study a semantic sophistication was used as a guiding
characteristic for exploring concepts used in curriculum guidelines as described by De Ries et al.
(2021). To identify and select appropriate curriculum guidelines in the present study, we followed
a five-stage framework process proposed by Arksey and O´Malley (2005). We describe the five steps
below:
Step 1, identify the research question: The overall research question was: How do national policy
documents (curriculum guidelines) of ECEC and compulsory education frame belonging and participation, and the related concepts of belonging, in the participating countries?
Sub-questions:
● How often are concepts and morphological variants related to belonging mentioned in
different national curriculum guidelines?
● How do national curriculum guidelines describe belonging and participation, as well as its
related concepts?
Step 2, identify relevant documents: Researchers from all five countries conducted an orientation
search to identify potential curriculum guidelines that fulfil the following inclusion criteria: a) targets
ECEC and/or compulsory education for children up to the age of eight; b) serves for curriculum
design; and c) is published in the English language.
Step 3, select documents: We compiled and discussed an overview of the identified documents in
a debriefing session; first on the national level (each co-author with a national team) and then in the
international expert-research team of six co-authors. The inclusion criteria for the final selection was
that the documents must have been considered to have embraced relevant concepts (belonging
with its related concepts). Table 1 lists all of the included curriculum guidelines from the participating countries.
Curriculum guidelines of ECEC and compulsory education included in the analysis
Step 4, chart the data from documents and development of analytical framework: Before starting the
charting process, the expert-research team identified the core concepts around belonging. The
starting point was Yuval-Davis’s theory of belonging and the politics thereof. However, the first
orientation screening showed that belonging as a concept is mentioned sparingly in curriculum
guidelines across the countries (see also the results section). The expert-research team organized
four online debriefing sessions and identified eighteen concepts with their morphological variants.
These were: belonging, community, culture, disability, diversity, environment, equality, ethics, family,
inclusion, participation, peer, relationship, right, safety, support, value, and well-being.
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B. PIŠKUR ET AL.
Table 1. Curriculum guidelines of ECEC and compulsory education included in the analysis.
Country & Code
Finland (FI-1)
Document title
National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care (2017)
Type of education
ECEC
0–6 years
Finland (FI-2)
National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014 (2016)
Compulsory
7–16 years
Iceland (IC-1)
The Icelandic National Curriculum Guide for Preschools (2011)
ECEC
1–6 years
Iceland (IC-2)
The Icelandic National Curriculum Guide for Compulsory Schools (2014)
Compulsory 6–
16 years
The Netherlands (NL- Inclusive education in the Netherlands (2008)
Compulsory
1)
4–12 years
The Netherlands (NL- The Education System in the Netherlands (2005)
Compulsory
2)
4–12 years
Norway (NO-1)
Framework Plan for Kindergartens—content and tasks (2017)
ECEC
1–5 years
Norway (NO-2)
Core Curriculum for Primary, Secondary and Adult Education in Norway (1993) Compulsory
6–16 years
Sweden (SW-1)
Curriculum for the Preschool Lpfö −98 (revised 2010) (1998)
ECEC
1–5 years
Sweden
Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and the recreation centre Compulsory 6–
(SW-2)
(2011)
16 years
We used a sequential explanatory mixed method approach to develop the analysis protocol
(Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011); with first quantitative analysis followed by qualitative analysis. In the
literature on mixed methods research, a sequence refers to a temporal relationship between
qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and/or analysis (Plano Clark & Ivankova,
2016). In this scoping review study, the sequence of the analysis consisted of two phases; the results
of phase one (the quantitative analysis) informed and navigate the synthesis of a subsequent phase
two (qualitative analysis). In different stages of this scoping study, we applied a back-and-forth
strategy between early results and new insights. The quantitative word analysis was conducted using
KNIME Text Processing Extension (Tursi & Silipo, 2019). Based on the results (see below), the expertresearch team compressed (by exploring the results of the quantitative analysis) the eighteen
concepts to nine during three further debriefing sessions, thereby excluding those not so tightly
connected to the theory of belonging and/or participation, namely culture, disability, environment,
ethics, family, peer, right, safety, and well-being. Our qualitative analysis used a theory-based direct
content analysis approach (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Schreier, 2012). Based on the literature, we first
outlined a definition of each concept (belonging, community, diversity, equality, inclusion, participation, relationship, support, and value).
Step 5, collate, summarize and report the results: This phase represents a second analysis round,
using both a quantitative and qualitative approach. The quantitative analysis contained word
frequency analysis (identification of morphological variants for the key concepts and calculation of
the relative frequencies for key concepts in all documents), as well as a comparison between the
relative frequencies of content words in all documents (see Table 2). The qualitative analysis used
a three-step content analysis abductive discovery approach: mnemonics (familiarization and immersion in the data), defamiliarization (creating a productive distance between the researcher and the
data), and revisiting observations (combining theoretical and data-based coding) (Padgett, 2016;
Reichhertz, 2010; Schreier, 2012; Želinský, 2019). The defamiliarization stage provided us with
important content insights in all nine concepts. Based on this stage, we deemed it worth further
analysing the two concepts (i.e. belonging and participation)—which had the most related purpose
and meaning for this study—in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how these
concepts are described in the curriculum, as well as their connection to the politics of belonging.
7
JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES
Table 2. Frequencies of nine concepts and morphological variants, including amount of content words.
FI-1
FI-2
IC-1
IC-2
NL-1
NL-2
NO-1
NO-2
Concept and
12,129
12,8748
7,819
14,708
10,318
37,707
5,129
6,279
morphological
variants
Ncontent words
(3)
(10)
(3)
(13)
(0)
(4)
(6)
(0)
Belonging
0,2
0,1
0,4
0,9
0
0,1
1,2
0
(belong,
belongs,
belongingness)
Community
(52)
(437)
(6)
(5)
(14)
(0)
(27)
(24)
(communities)
4,3
3,4
2,2
2,0
1,5
0,2
5,3
3,7
Diversity
(15)
(252)
(6)
(5)
(14)
(0)
(19)
(5)
1,2
2,0
0,8
0,3
1,4
0
3,7
0,8
Equality (equal,
(12)
(65)
(27)
(29)
(2)
(5)
(10)
(8)
equals)
1,0
0,5
3,5
2,0
0,2
0,1
1,9
1,2
Inclusion
(3)
(2)
(1)
(9)
(44)
(0)
(4)
(0)
(inclusive)
0,2
0
0,1
0,6
4,3
0
0,8
0
(51)
(305)
(18)
(37)
(55)
(61)
(50)
(12)
Participation
4,2
2,4
2,3
2,5
5,3
1,6
9,7
1,9
(participating,
participate,
participated,
participatory)
Relationship
(19)
(135)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(8)
(12)
(6)
(relationships)
1,6
1,0
0,3
0,1
0,3
0,2
2,3
0,9
(180)
(1438)
(18)
(37)
(58)
(80)
(31)
(2)
Support
14,8
11,2
2,3
2,5
5,6
2,1
6,0
0,3
(supports,
supported,
supporting,
supportive)
(174)
(27)
(23)
(1)
(5)
(39)
(22)
Value (values)
(30)
2,5
1,4
3,5
1,6
0,1
0,1
7,6
3,4
SW-1
2,269
SW-2
50,491
(1)
0,4
(2)
0,0
(1)
0,4
(2)
0,9
(2)
0,9
(0)
0
(15)
6,6
(16)
0,3
(7)
0,1
(25)
0,5
(0)
0
(41)
0,8
(2)
0,9
(17)
7,5
(244)
4,8
(23)
0,5
(21)
9,3
(98)
1,9
Absolute frequencies are placed within the parentheses and relative frequencies (*1,000) below same.
Results
This study provides results drawn from the quantitative (section 1) and qualitative analyses
(section 2).
The descriptive results of identified concepts and morphological variants—section 1
We analysed nine concepts (belonging and eight related concepts) and morphological variants—the
absolute and relative frequency distributions of which can be seen in Table 2. The top row of Table 2
shows the total amount of words in each curriculum guideline, while the left column displays the
nine key concepts (and their morphological variants). The absolute frequency of each concept is
shown in parentheses, under which the relative frequency is displayed. The size of the curriculum
guidelines differs among the participating countries, from 2,269 to 128,748 words. Consequently, we
can consider the relative frequencies to be important.
Frequencies of nine concepts and morphological variants, including amount of content words
The quantitative analysis shows that use of the nine concepts differs between the five curriculum
guidelines. The concept ‘belonging’ is an uncommon word in most of the documents, with a relative
frequency of between 0 (NL-1, NO-2) and 1,2 (NO-1). ‘Participation’ had a higher relative frequency—
9,7 (NO-1), 6,6 (SW-1) and 5,3 (NL-1). Interestingly, ‘participation’ and ‘support’ are two concepts that
occurred throughout all the analysed curriculum guidelines with a high relative frequency. We can
also see that ‘inclusion’ is seldom used in the curricula except in the Netherlands (NL-1); likewise with
‘equality’ or ‘diversity’. When viewing the relative frequencies of each country separately, both
Finnish curriculum guidelines (FI-1 and FI-2) mention ‘support’ and ‘community’ more often than
the other concepts. Iceland’s IC-1 mentions ‘equality’ and ‘value’ the most frequently, while these
8
B. PIŠKUR ET AL.
concepts are ‘participation’ and ‘support’ in IC-2. In the Dutch curriculum guidelines, ‘support’ and
‘participation’ had the highest relative frequency (NL-2), followed by ‘inclusion’ (NL-1). The most
frequent concepts in Norwegian curriculum guidelines were ‘participation’ (NO-1) and ‘community’
(NO-2). In the Swedish curriculum guidelines the concept ‘value’ (SW-1) and ‘relationship’ (SW-2)
were the most mentioned. Further exploration using word clouds showed that ‘participation’ and
‘belonging’ are very frequently found in the same text fragment with one of the other seven
concepts. It was worth noting that, as a concept, ‘participation’ has been translated in all five
languages. However, the concept of ‘belonging’ seems to be difficult to translate into Icelandic or
Finnish because there is not one word that accurately encapsulates its meaning. In Dutch, ‘belonging’ is translated as ‘erbij horen’, which could also be considered an imperfect translation. ‘Support’ is
typically unrelated to belonging as Yuval-Davis (2006, 2011) describes it, but is used instead as
a word that assists other meanings (e.g. schools can support new teachers). In order to gain a deeper
understanding, we delved into curriculum guidelines texts and conducted a content analysis of the
description of ‘participation’ and ‘belonging’.
The thematic results of belonging and participation in the curricula—section 2
The results of the qualitative content analysis (see the summary in Table 3) revealed three main
categories representing the different societal levels described in all curricula: a) guiding principles; b)
educational programme principles; and c) teaching practice principles.
Summary of the qualitative analysis results
The first main category, ‘guiding principles’ indicates how early childhood education and care
and/or compulsory education assure ‘participation’ (attendance and involvement) or ‘belonging’
from a macro-level perspective.
Guiding principles that guarantee ‘participation’ (in terms of attendance and/or involvement) are
the inclusion of values and rights within the curriculum guidelines of all countries. Equality, democracy, cooperation, solidarity, responsibility, forgiveness, respect, and education for all are the values
and rights seen as a necessary foundation for children to become independent, autonomous, active,
and responsible participants in a democratic society (FI-1 p.60; FI2, p.13, p.24; IC-1-p.5/1; IC-1 p. 41/III;
NO-1, p. 9, p.27, p.47, p.56; NL-1 p. 28). Additionally, the Christian heritage of Icelandic culture is
addressed (IC-1, p.30/III) as one of the necessary human values in education. A child’s language skills
Table 3. Summary of the qualitative analysis results.
Main category
Guiding
principles
Educational
programme
principles
Teaching
practice
principles
Chosen Framework
Participation as
attendance
and as
involvement is
guaranteed by:
Belonging is
supported by:
Participation as
attendance
and as
involvement is
strengthened by:
Belonging is enabled
by:
Participation as
attendance
and as
involvement is
fostered by:
Belonging is made
possible by:
Sub-categories
Human rights and values (equality, democracy, cooperation, solidarity, responsibility,
forgiveness, respect, and education for all).
Language and multiliteracy.
Policy measures and laws.
Educational bodies and structures.
Relational ideologies, respect for diversity, social awareness, and civil consciousness.
Assuring a child’s overall development & skills acquisition (ADL, language, technology
skills, and indoor and outdoor play).
Understanding cultural heritage.
Offering multidisciplinary guidance.
Enabling joint decision-making between schools, parents, and children.
Shared rules, and fair and respectful attitudes towards peers and adults.
Interactive dialogue to explore diverse social and cultural circumstances.
Inclusive and accessible physical and social environments.
Teaching methods that foster positive attitudes about diversity, equity, and
equality, and utilize teachers expertise to tackle the needs of culturally diverse
classrooms.
Designing opportunities that encourage socializing, building relationships, and
belongingness.
JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES
9
are an important prerequisite for participation and inclusion in society (NO-1, p. 9; FI-2, p.15; NL-1,
p. 46), as is multiliteracy, including Sign language (FI-1 p.55; FI-1 p.46; FI-2 p.13; FI-1 p. 27). The
guidelines refer to important educational bodies, structures (e.g. educational councils and student
associations), policy measures and laws (e.g. ‘Participation and democratic action’, the ‘UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child—Articles 12 and 104ʹ),which regulate educational systems,
enhance inclusive education, and lay a foundation for children to become active and participating
citizens in a modern society (FI-1 p.28/ FI-2 p.13; NL-1 p.5; NO-1, P27; IC-1 p.27/I). The guidelines (FI-2,
p.69; ICE-2, p.41; NO-1, p. 40; SW-2, p.12–17) stressed the education system’s responsibility to
promote participation by offering special support for children when needed. Measures and criteria
(e.g. children with visual impairment) that require special education programmes have also been
described (NL-1, p. 25).
As mentioned above, mentions of ‘belonging’ are rare in ECEC and compulsory curriculum
guidelines. The guiding principles which do promote ‘belonging’ refer to relational ideologies,
such as encouraging democratic relations in everyday activities (e.g. play), and the notion that
each child should have the opportunity to form their own opinions and make their own choices in
light of their personal circumstances (SW-1 p.4, p.12; NO-1, p.7–8, p.23, p. 48). The Norwegian
guideline (NO-1, p.7, p.23, p. 48) described every child’s need for belongingness. Icelandic guidelines
(IC-1 p. 41/III, p.68/III, p.35/II, p.42/III) specify the need for an inclusive school spirit, respect for
diversity, social awareness, and civil consciousness as important relationship bases from which to
eliminate forms of discrimination and disintegration.
The second main category, ‘educational programme principles’, explains how ECEC and/or
compulsory education assure ‘participation’ (in terms of attendance and involvement) or ‘belonging’
from a meso level perspective.
These principles consider a child’s overall development (IC-1 p.46–47/II, p.23/I, p.5/I) and skills
acquisition (e.g. in ADL (FI-2 p. 77)) in information and communication technology (FI-1 p. 13), in
mastering a child’s own sense of responsibility (e.g. through planning group work at school (FI-2
p. 35)) and involvement in indoor and outdoor play (IC-1 p.46–47/II). A multidisciplinary education
approach that links different fields of knowledge is seen as an optimal method for allowing children
to successfully participate within education. Furthermore, the ECEC community and compulsory
schools must foster an acquaintance with, and appreciation for, cultural heritage through artistic
activities and other forms of expression, which also in turn benefits future employment and further
studies (IC-1 p.32/III, p.17/I, p.35/II; FI-1 p.27; NO-1, p. 55). ECEC should be a democratic learning
community where teachers, parents/guardians, and children are all active participants in decisionmaking processes and in the guaranteeing of educational quality (NL-1 p.28; IC-1 p.33/II; p.27/I, p.49/
II SW-1 p. 15). All stakeholders ought to actively participate in regularly planning and assessing ECEC
activities (IC-1 p.31/III, p.68/III; NO-1, p.21, p. 27, p. 37). The heads of ECEC should be tasked with
ensuring that parents/guardians receive opportunities to participate and influence how goals can be
most effectively achieved in pedagogical planning (SW-1 p. 13). Interestingly, a Finnish compulsory
guideline (FI-2, p. 28) states that student association activities offer an important channel for the
participation of children in decision-making.
Educational programme principals in curriculum guidelines define ‘belonging’ in education as
a set of inter-linking attitudes. Finnish guidelines for compulsory education (FI-2 p. 35) state that
children need to develop compliance with the shared rules, and behave in a fair and respectful
manner towards both peers and adults. Furthermore, ensuring the equal participation of all members of the school community is one of the basic principles for developing open and interactive
dialogue (FI-2 p.26; FI-1 p.53; NO-1 p.8–9, p. 24–25). In so doing, are more effectively able to interact,
build relationships, and create meaning, as well as to develop their identity and awareness of their
own history (e.g. Sami children shall be able to contribute and participate in their own language).
Educational programmes need to provide the youth with the opportunities to explore diverse social
and cultural circumstances, and exercise being critical and creative (IC-1 p.5/I).
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B. PIŠKUR ET AL.
Third main theme is ‘teaching practice principles’, which explains how ECEC and/or compulsory
education guarantee participation, attendance, and/or involvement in activities (or, ‘belonging’) in
a micro level context.
Teaching practice principles underline how teaching methods, in combination with physical and
social environments, reinforce children’s participation. Social environments that stimulate
a democratic and collaborative atmosphere enable children’s active involvement in both education
and society at large (IC-1 p.46/III, p.5/I). These principles recommend that physical environments
should be designed in such a way that toys and equipment are accessible for all children (NO-3, p.19;
NO-1, p. 19), meaning that all can experience the joy of playing, and are able to observe, analyse, and
support each other while doing so (NO-1, p. 20). Physical environments must be physically accessible, as well as suitable for using information and communication technology (FI-2, p. 29). Practice
principles strongly advise a sense of shared responsibility in creating learning environments so as to
support the active participation of both teachers and children (FI-2 p. 16). ECEC and/or compulsory
education must respect diversity that allows all children to use different forms of expression, and
enable their participation in ways suited to their age, level of experience, individual circumstances,
and needs (NO-1, p. 27, p. 40). ECEC and/or compulsory teachers are responsible for applying
democratic teaching and working methods, which should include elements of ethics, social competence (IC-1, p.46/III; SW-1 p. 8), and religious and cultural respect (NO-1, p. 55). It is therefore vital that
teaching staff reflect their own attitudes in order to most effectively convey and promote equity and
equality (NO-1, p. 10). Furthermore, any experience or knowledge gaps regarding how to strengthen
positive intercultural relationships between pupils should be acknowledged and ameliorated in
a timely fashion (NL-1, p.56; SW-1, p. 15).
Teaching practice principles in curriculum guidelines portray ‘belonging’ in education by designing opportunities that encourage socializing and relationship building. Every child must have the
same opportunities to be seen, heard, and encouraged to participate in all shared activities, as well as
to converse and feel a sense of togetherness (NO-1, p.40; FI-2, p.20, p. 30; NO-1, p. 50–51). As
communities often contain minority languages (FI-2, p. 91), bilingual ECEC and/or compulsory
education activities can stimulate sense of belonging and inclusion (e.g. giving instructions in
more than one language) (FI-2, p. 33). It is for ECEC to ensure that each child develops the ability
to understand and feel confident with the world around them (NO-1, p. 21), and to act in accordance
with democratic principles (SW-1 p. 12).
Discussion
This cross-cultural study has explored how the belonging and participation, as well as its related
concepts, are framed in curriculum guidelines in the context of five European countries. Additionally,
this study identified nine key concepts (and morphological variants) that relate to belonging.
Our results reveal several important principles (macro, meso, and micro principles) relevant for
ECEC and compulsory education. Macro level curriculum guidelines chiefly relate to different human
rights and values, policy measures, ideologies, and conditions that enable participation. Guiding
principles particularly show that relational ideologies, respect for diversity, social awareness, and civil
consciousness all support belonging. Meso level principles stress that education is supposed to
guarantee a child’s overall development, skills acquisition, involvement in environmental and
cultural heritage activities (both indoor and outdoor), offer multidisciplinary guidance for participation attendance and involvement, and provide measures for meaningful collaboration and joint
decision-making with all education stakeholders. Culture for open, interactive dialogue, shared rules,
respectful attitudes towards peers and adults, and opportunities to explore diverse social and
cultural circumstances seem to be key educational principles that ensure belonging. Micro level
principles indicate the need for inclusive and accessible physical and social environments, teaching
methods that foster positive attitudes about diversity, and capitalize on teachers’ expertise to
successfully manage everyone’s needs to participate. Designing opportunities that encourage
JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES
11
socializing, relationship building, and belongingness are vital principles which ought to be considered and applied when proposing teaching activities for belonging. Furthermore, acknowledging
the diversity of languages, and reflecting on positive attitudes towards equity and equality, also
appear as enabling principles of teaching practices for belonging. Additionally, the results reveal
how frequently the chosen key concepts are represented in the curricula.
Belonging can be seen as a core value and a universal human need. From infancy, humans tend to
create relationships and a sense of belonging with other people, groups, cultures, places, and
material objects (May, 2013; Stratigos et al., 2014). Our results show that the word ‘belonging’ is
used somewhat infrequently in curriculum guidelines—indeed, the concept does not exist in some
countries or it is difficult to translate in other languages. One could question whether this concept is
understood and interpreted in the same manner—as described by Yuval-Davis (2011)—across the
five participating countries. On the other hand, our results show that the three levels of politics of
belonging (Yuval-Davis, 2011) could be grasped in the curriculum guidelines of these same five
countries. The curriculum guidelines detail different groups—whose identity is constructed in cooperative situations in ECEC and compulsory education—and minority languages users (e.g. Sami
children or Sign language users). Moreover, they stress the importance of engaging play in various
relations which, as Yuval-Davis (2011) describes, aids with identification, categorization, and the level
of emotional attachment. The results also included the ethical and political value of respecting
children, in appreciating cultural heritage, and in raising young people to be active members of
a democratic society. The Council of Europe (Council of Europe, 2008) is convinced that intercultural
dialogue may help with appreciating diversity while sustaining social cohesion. Furthermore, the
council stressed that intercultural dialogue cannot be prescribed by law, but instead must retain its
character as an open invitation to the ongoing debate in society (Council of Europe, 2008).
Within the nine concepts related to belonging, the most chosen and frequently mentioned was
‘participation’. Participation is a necessary precondition for experiencing belonging. If a child cannot
attend educational activities due to language or disability barriers, or because of any other exclusioncausing aspect, they would be unable to experience involvement and build relationships.
Attendance and involvement relate to the objective (being present) and the more subjective (inthe-moment) experience of participation (Imms, et al., 2016). Participation is considered a central
task of teaching (Dunphy, 2012). According to Morningstar et al. (2015), the teacher must manage
both the learning and participation of pupils. Participation has many dimensions and meanings
(Piškur et al., 2014). For instance, it can also be seen as a means with which to understand the power
relations between the educational system and the everyday lives of children. Our results stress the
importance of shared decision-making, and the involvement of children and parents in a democratic
dialogue.
Although inclusion is often viewed as one of the key guiding educational principles (Hausstätter,
2014; Nilholm & Göransson, 2017; Onderwijsraad, 2020; Takala et al., 2012), the word itself was
seldom used in the studied curriculum guidelines—it was mostly found in the Dutch guidelines. The
compulsory Finnish curriculum guidelines most often used the word ‘support’ which, in the literature, usually refers to early intervention (Pulkkinen & Jahnukainen, 2016).
While our research was not designed as a comparative study, we noticed some context specific
novel aspects in our findings. For example, in Finland the education guiding principles are designed
with reference to the future, focusing on raising children to become active citizens of a democratic
society. Other countries (e.g. Norway), however focused more on the present, as in how to promote
the well-being of the child within everyday education. Another interesting finding was that certain
curriculum guidelines (e.g. Finnish and Norwegian) stressed multilingualism as an important aspect
for enabling belonging and participation. This might be an influence of the Nordic model of
education (Arnesen & Lundahl, 2006). The regular use of different languages, and exposure to
multicultural settings, encourages the development of a personal identity as a multilingual and
multicultural individual, while concurrently emphasizing the positive attributes of otherness and
difference in social interaction (Čeginskas, 2015). While for example, in the Netherlands a child’s
12
B. PIŠKUR ET AL.
Dutch language skills are an important prerequisite for participation and inclusion. Also interesting is
that Dutch curriculum guidelines are slightly more emphatic of cognitive-oriented curriculum
elements, which perhaps more closely resembles the Anglo-American-based curriculum tradition
(Autio, 2017; Tahirsylaj et al., 2016). However, this could also be indicative of these requirements
being considered more important in Dutch as both guidelines were for compulsory education.
A more in-depth exploration is needed in order to compare all curriculum guidelines.
A curriculum reflects the values and goals which are considered essential in society, and accordingly acts as a mirror of what is important and desirable for its future (Vitikka et al., 2012). Generations
of children go to ECEC and compulsory education organized according to current curriculum
guidelines. This demonstrates a curriculum’s importance, as well as its significant impact on the
information, values, and communication methods that will be transmitted forward. One must be
aware that education can change a society (Apple, 2018). Neoliberalism sees competition as the main
characteristic of human relationships; rather than foster inclusion, it structures the ways in which
social groups come together, and create mechanisms of integration and segregation (Fischer, 2020).
Some hints of neoliberalism can be found in the studied curriculum guidelines (e.g. Sweden): the
focus on the future, on being a competent member of society, or the absence of disability discussion.
Socioeconomic and ethnic segregation in bigger cities (e.g. Helsinki) has been documented, and
a negative response of schools in relatively disadvantaged neighbourhoods has been noticed
(Bernelius, 2013; Pesando et al., 2020). The consequences of school choice (state versus private)
are unaligned with inclusive education and has consequences for groups of children (e.g. children
with special needs) (Magnússon, 2020). This study could provide questions for further investigation,
such as ‘do curricula offer principles which are in conflict with parents’ interests, such as free choice
of schools?’
This study is not without limitations. The studied countries were all European and seemed to have
similar value-based educational systems and procedures. This is not always the case when analysing
curricula in different countries, as was shown by Mottaghi and Talkhabi (2019). Furthermore,
a limited number of documents were included in the study due to the inclusion criteria stated
(e.g. published in the English language). Still, analysing the guidelines proved challenging as they
were translations, which therefore could have resulted in certain misunderstandings as meaning is
often lost in translation (Van Nes et al., 2010). For example, the Icelandic curriculum guideline (IC-2)
used the concept of belonging more than any other, despite the fact that the concept of belonging is
rather uncommon in daily life—it could well be that, in translation, this concept has a slightly
different meaning. Moreover, the guidelines’ word count differed and could have influenced the
explanation and meaning of searched concepts. Furthermore, some curriculum guidelines might be
outdated—indeed, during the project period curriculum guidelines in several countries were under
construction and not yet available.
The ECEC and compulsory education curriculum guidelines studied emphasize the importance of
children’s (and pupils’) human rights, diversity, equality and inclusion, democratic values, and
relationships with all group members. These aspects are considered important and form the basis
of participation and belonging (Bernelius, 2013; Magnússon, 2020; Pesando et al., 2020). This is, to
our knowledge, the first study that focused on whether and how curriculum guidelines address and
describe the concepts of participation and belonging. The study shows that the attention to these
concepts is rather thin, and that concepts are interpreted in different ways.
Curriculum guidelines’ principles serve as an inspiration for policy makers, schools boards,
curriculum designers and teachers (and anyone responsible for education) to put these principles into practice—particularly in today’s society. Based on our study we can conclude that
curriculum guidelines do not provide sufficent frameworks for promoting children’s belonging
and participation. This study may inspire national educational bodies to take a close look on
how the concepts of belonging and participation are used in the curriculum guidelines and
understood in order to elaborate what is needed to put it in practice by all mentioned
stakeholders.
JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM STUDIES
13
It is recommended that all stakeholders should be involved in discussions and reflections on the
nature of learning, teaching, curriculum design and teachers’ education with regard to belonging
and participation. Moreover, it is important to look how the curriculum functions in practice, as well
as weigh up what truly enables inclusion of all children in education. A critical constructivism
approach with dialectical understanding of the relationship between ideas (such as belonging and
participation), social change, and strategically selective contexts and social structures (Bentley et al.,
2007) may support thorough understanding how daily educational practice can be designed to truly
support belonging and participation.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Professor Dr. Mark Pluymaekers, Asma Abdelmutaal Mohieldeen, MSc., and Laura
Maučec, BSc. (Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands) for their valuable contribution in the data
preparation phase and analysis
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This study has been financially supported by a NordForsk grant (no. 85644).
Notes on contributors
Barbara Piškur, PhD, is a senior researcher and a senior lecturer at Zuyd University, in the Netherlands. Her research
interests are: participation, belonging, inclusion, school-based cross-over collaboration and parents partnership.
Marjatta Takala,Professor of special education, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Finland.
Anita Berge, PhD, Associate professor Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Stavanger, Norway.
Liselotte Eek-Karlsson PhD, Senior lecturer Department of Education and Teachers Practice, Linnaeus University,
Sweden.
Sara M. Ólafsdóttir, PhD Assistant professor School of Education, University of Iceland, Iceland.
Sarah Meuser, MSc. Lecturer & Researcher School of Occupational Therapy, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, the
Netherlands.
ORCID
Barbara Piškur
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5788-958X
Marjatta Takala
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6384-5735
Anita Berge
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0621-5267
Liselotte Eek-Karlsson
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1336-583X
Sara M. Ólafsdóttir
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9473-0423
Sarah Meuser
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0248-1939
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