Catchword "alliance for education": Educational goals of parents and kindergarten teachers

In 2006, in Germany the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs and the christian churches started an "alliance for education". The alliance is aimed at giving parents educational orientation and to bring important societal goals with regard to education to their attention. This paper presents results of an empirical investigation into the educational goals of parents and teachers in kindergartens. The ideas of upbringing children differ mainly depending on whether the individualisation or the societal integration of the child is the main focus. Generally, in families and especially in kindergartens the individualisation of the child represents the most important goal of education. In addition, it was found that traditional ideas of upbringing children that underline the importance of children's integration into society are only spread to a considerable extent among families from the lower social strata and certain immigrant families.