Other educational activities
The activities that in some respect replace or complement pre-school or out-of-school centres and which are not part of the school system are regulated in Chapter 25 of the Education Act under the heading "Other educational activities". The activities included are pedagogical care, open pre-school, open out-of-school centres and care at times when pre-school and out-of-school centres are not offered.
Pedagogical care, such as family day-care centres
If a child's guardian so wishes, municipalities are to try to offer children pedagogical care instead of enrolment at a pre-school or out-of-school centre. On 1 July 2009, the term "family day-care centre" was replaced by "pedagogical care" in the Education Act. "Pedagogical care" is an umbrella term in which "family day-care centre2" is one of several types of activities within educational care. Other alternatives may be different kinds of solutions involving several families.
Pedagogical care is to stimulate children's development and learning through educational activities, and be designed so that the activity prepares children for continued learning. Children enrolled in pedagogical care are aged 1 to 13, but these activities normally accept children of pre-school age.
Pedagogical care is guided, but not bound, by the curriculum for pre-school. This means that activities can apply parts of the curriculum based on the conditions the activity provides. However, the curriculum's section on norms and values is equally relevant to pedagogical care and to pre-school. The Swedish National Agency for Education has prepared general advice for family day-care centres. The advice is linked to the pre-school curriculum and is to guide the activity.
Open pre-school
A municipality can arrange open pre-schools as a complement to pre-schools and pedagogical care. At open pre-schools, stay-at-home parents or other adults, together with the staff, can develop an educational group activity for the children, while the adults have the chance for social contact. Many open pre-schools cooperate with other activities, such as social services or maternal and child health care. The visitors are not enrolled; instead they themselves decide when and how often they want to attend.
The Swedish National Agency for Education has prepared general advice for open pre-schools. The advice is linked to the pre-school curriculum and can help guide the activity.
Open out-of-school centres
Open out-of-school centres are an alternative for children between the ages of 10 and 13. The centres are to complement school, offer children the opportunity for development and learning as well as meaningful leisure time and recreation. Open out-of-school centres are a simpler form of activity that do not offer the same degree of care and supervision (activities with enrolment) and the groups of pupils can be more flexible compared with out-of-school centres. The children are not enrolled at the centre; instead the families themselves decide when and how often the children are to attend. Open out-of-school centres can be organised in several different ways. To a greater or lesser extent, they are often coordinated with other activities, usually out-of-school centres, schools or youth recreation centres.
The Swedish National Agency for Education has prepared general advice for open out-of-school centres. The advice is linked to the curriculum for the compulsory school system, pre-school classes and out-of-school centres. The curriculum does not apply to open out-of-school centres but can help guide the activity. According to the advice, the educational activities are to be based on the view of children's development and learning expressed in the curriculum.
Care at times when pre-schools or out-of-school centres are not offered
Municipalities are to try to offer care for children at times when pre-schools or out-of-school centres are not offered as necessary with regard to the parents' employment or the family's situation. The municipality then offers care during the parents' inconvenient working hours through such activities as night-time pre-school, pedagogical care or child carers in one's own home.
