Lost in Translation

Abstract

The Norwegian government has intentions of why and how religion should be a part of the curriculum in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions and Early Childhood Teacher Education (ECTE). Based on policy documents, e.g. national strategies, White Papers, national guidelines, and curriculum, informing ECEC and ECTE, this chapter investigates how religion, as part of childhood, is legitimized. Furthermore, the chapter will display results from several empirical Norwegian studies in ECEC on how religion is perceived and operationalized. Preliminary results from analysed policy documents and empirical findings refer to three discourses about religion in an ECEC context: religion portrayed as part of the concept diversity, religion/Christianity understood as Norwegian traditions and “other religions”, e.g. Islam, considered as religion per se. The chapter discusses how different discourses of religion affect teachers in Norwegian ECEC, and as a result, children’s experiences and knowledge of religion in multi-religious ECEC.