The aim of the special issue is to present new knowledge about values education in early childhood settings. The action research project reported in this special issue deals with values education in five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (NordForsk, project number 53581). The aim has been to deepen understanding of the institutionalized fostering of values in Nordic preschools at the theoretical, methodological, and empirical levels. The objectives and research questions were: 1. To deepen theoretical understanding of values and values education by further developing Habermas' ideas about life-world, system, and communicative action. 2. To develop innovative research methodologies in which a participative action research method is connected with cross-cultural orientation; 3. To advance empirical knowledge of values and values education in Nordic preschools. How do the national educational policies frame values education in preschools? What is values education like in preschools? What kinds of values are communicated? What kinds of gender patterns emerge in values education? Which commonalities and variations in values and values education can be found among the Nordic countries? (author abstract)