The present article is a meta-ethnographic analysis of 15 first-order ethnographic studies with a focus on quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC).

The aim of the study is to investigate how neoliberal policy discourses on quality in early childhood education and care travel between global and local contexts and how they become embedded in local preschool practices. Central concepts in the analysis are institutional strategic responses, social reproduction and change in relation to how neoliberal discourses on quality become embedded in local preschool practices.

The findings show how neoliberal policy discourses on quality are transformed and embedded in local preschool practices with different results and responses.

The analysis uncovers five strategic,institutional responses: Acquiescence, Avoidance, Manipulation, Compromise, and Defiance. Acquiescence and Avoidance show patterns of social reproduction and Manipulation, Compromise, and Defiance reveals a potential opportunity for social change.