PROBLEMATIZATION OF THE ROLE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE IN SLOVENIA DURING COVID-19

The article focuses on the reduction of early childhood education in Slovenia to the level of care during the closure of kindergartens in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The situation is problematized from the point of tradition and mission of pre-school education, which was from the very beginning, in the nineteenth century, focused on the educational role and support to the families. We emphasize the predominance of health/medical discourse in the time of the pandemic and explain the importance of cross-sectoral cooperation of health, social and educational fields. Finally, we present the condition - a competent system for realizing previously introduced comprehensive and also on mission-oriented policy of early childhood education.