The purpose of the study was to develop knowledge about how preschool teachers give different meanings to teaching in preschool. In Swedish preschools, teaching has been traditionally downplayed, favoring the more holistic approach called Educare (Eidevald & Engdahl, 2018). Studies indicate that preschool teachers view the concept of teaching as controversial in a preschool context (Hammer, 2012; Sæbbe & Pramling Samuelsson, 2017; Vallberg Roth, 2018). Theoretically, teaching relates to different logics of responsibility of preschool teachers in terms of professional responsibility and accountability (Englund & Solbrekke, 2015). The conceptual framework also relates to Abbott’s (1988) reasoning on the jurisdictional control of preschool teachers. Additionally, the concept of ideological dilemmas (Billig, et al., 1996) is used. This study was carried out during 2017–2020 and was conducted as a research circle, within the tradition of participatory action research (Holmstrand & Härnsten, 2003). Ten meetings were held with fifteen preschool teachers. The analysis followed the procedure for a qualitative content analysis (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). A consent form and information sheet was provided to all participants. They had the opportunity to withdraw from the study at any time. The participants were anonymised. The results highlight several ideological dilemmas e.g. tensions between the management of preschool teachers towards predefined and national goals and what occurs in the moment, in the interactions between teachers and children in the local context. There are implications both for preschool practice and preschool teacher education since the voices of preschool teachers are in focus in this study.