| 1. |
- Andersson Søe, Martina, et al.
(författare)
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‘Distance creates distance’ : preschool staff experiences and reflections concerning preschool introduction during the covid-19-Pandemic
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 31:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The social restrictions during the covid-19 pandemic have challenged many aspects of preschool everyday life. Particularly vulnerable to these restrictions is the aspect of introducing new children to preschool, since preschool introduction constitutes a natural arena for establishment of preschool staff’s relationships with children and their parents. Based on analysis of open-ended survey data (N = 465), the present study explores how Swedish preschool staff has experienced and dealt with the pandemic restrictions during preschool introduction. Our qualitative analysis resulted in three categories and six subcategories, including results demonstrating that social distancing-restrictions accentuate the importance of engaging relationally with the families, while simultaneously constituting a disconcerting complication since the physical distance constrains the important relationship-building between staff and parents. Moreover, the children seem to interpret the parent-staff physical distance as relational distance, which negatively affects their emerging relationship to preschool staff. Our results also show that how parental participation is organised during preschool introduction may be of critical importance for staff-child relational establishment, providing insights for researchers and practitioners in the field valuable to consider also in a non-pandemic context.
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| 2. |
- Areljung, Sofie, 1983-
(författare)
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Why do teachers adopt or resist a pedagogical idea for teaching science in preschool?
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 27:3, s. 238-253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Numerous initiatives are carried out across the world to support science teaching in early childhood education. However, professional development research shows that in order for teaching interventions to bring about successful changes in practice, it is key that teacher’s beliefs, confidence and knowledge change. As a complement to studies showing how teachers change, this article examines why teachers adopt a pedagogical idea for teaching science in preschool. Drawing on Clarke and Hollingsworth’s model for teacher professional growth, the article analyses interviews with teachers that have implemented and developed a pedagogical idea for teaching science in preschool. The results indicate that teachers adopt the pedagogical idea because it helps them to discern and build on science content in everyday practice, which they prefer to their previous way of teaching science through occasional experiments. Further the results show that teachers balance several external influences on what is good preschool pedagogy. The particular pedagogical idea eases that balancing act since it aligns with, and helps teachers to make meaning of, many of these influences.
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| 3. |
- Backman, Anna, 1974
(författare)
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Shadow in children’s picturebooks: highlighting children’s perspectives
- 2024
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 32:1, s. 21-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study presents how five five-year-olds express different ways of experiencing the multifaceted phenomenon of shadow, when reading and listening to picturebooks about shadow in a Swedish preschool. This is studied with attention to children's perspectives on shadow as it appears in conversations about the picturebooks. The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about ways of experiencing shadow, foregrounded in children’s conversations about picturebooks, and answers the question ‘How do children experience shadow when discussing picturebooks about shadow?’ The results show that, in conversations about the picturebooks, the children express that they experience shadow as visible with light and projection surface, as manageable like tangible objects, as being influenced by someone or something, and as self-acting with fictional abilities. The children often express their experiencing shadow as related to experiences of shadow from their everyday lives, and less often as something fictional and aesthetic.
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| 4. |
- Bateman, Amanda, et al.
(författare)
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Language as context : A case of early literacy practices in New Zealand and Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 30:1, s. 55-70
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Globally, there has been increasing adaptation of curricula frameworks in early childhood education, providing overarching principles of practice rather than subject specific templates for teaching and learning. While such a movement is to be commended as supporting a socio-cultural approach in meeting each childs unique social and cultural needs, the implementation of frameworks is not straightforward (Bateman 2022). By applying an ethnomethodological approach to child-teacher interactions, this article explores how early childhood curricula frameworks in Sweden and New Zealand are implemented in everyday talk-in-interaction between children and teachers. We use an ethnomethodological (EM) approach (Garfinkel 2002) and conversation analysis (CA) (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974) approach (EMCA) to situate language as context. This approach offers a move away from the broader perspective of context being a static environmental space, to context as co-constructed by the participants through their immediate interactions (Goodwin and Duranti 1992). Contextual resources involve the concrete social situations, background cultural knowledge, language, activity and situation types, participants knowledge about topics talked about and about each other and their interactional biographies (Linell 2009, 17).
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| 5. |
- Bergnehr, Disa, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Adult-initiated touch and its functions at a Swedish preschool: Controlling, affectionate, assisting and educative haptic conduct.
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 26:3, s. 312-331
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present study examines adult–child touch and its functions in a Swedish preschool (for 1 to 5-year-old children). The data are naturalistic observations and video-recorded data of everyday preschool activities. The study describes the frequently occurring functions of educators’ haptic conduct (control, affectionate, affectionate-control, assisting and educative touch), discussing them in relation to the children's age, gender and type of the preschool activity. It reveals the complexity of touch, demonstrating that physical contact is used for a variety of purposes in the educators’ daily work. The educators employed touch without force, and the children did not respond with explicit and forceful resistance (such as pushing back or otherwise protesting). Adult-initiated haptic behaviour served a continuum of social purposes – from social–relational work, such as establishing and building affectively positive, caring, social relations, to practical and educative organisational efforts to manage the complex and busy preschool life. The distribution of adult–child touch categories brings attention to the bodily aspects of the early childhood educational setting and highlights some of the ways in which the requirements of the Swedish curriculum for Preschool and its focus on educare are actualised in the educators’ embodied conduct.
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| 6. |
- Björklund, Camilla, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Approaches to teaching in thematic work: early childhood teachers’ integration of mathematics and art
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 25:2, s. 98-111
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper reports evidence from a survey of early childhood teachers’ work with mathematics and art integrated in thematic work. In this study, we aim to explore how teachers perceive mathematics learning and teaching integrated with art. Data for analysis were collected from a questionnaire answered by 27 early childhood teachers from Finland and Sweden. Influenced by a sociocultural theoretical framework, the analysis concerns the teachers’ expressed goals for learning and their strategies for achieving these goals. The analysis reveals qualitatively different approaches to the learning goals addressed by the teachers – process-oriented, product-oriented, development-oriented and providing awareness – which, respectively, seem to generate different meanings of mathematical learning integrated with art. This study offers an overview of teachers’ approaches to teaching mathematics and art in thematic work, and of how different approaches may influence what mathematical meaning is offered to children to explore.
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| 7. |
- Björklund, Camilla, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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From activity to transdisciplinarity and back again – preschool teachers’ reasoning about pedagogical goals
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 26:1, s. 90-103
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study presents an analysis of preschool teachers’ reasoning about pedagogical goals. Of specific interest is how teachers in a Swedish and a Finnish context describe goals for children’s learning and how they describe them implementing these goals into their practice. The research question is thus: How are pedagogical goals perceived and enacted, in the thematic-oriented and play-based pedagogical practice of preschool? In-depth interviews were conducted with six preschool teachers, of which three expressed learning goals guiding their pedagogical work. The Variation Theory of learning is the guiding principle throughout the analysis, and reveals indirect and direct objects of learning and content for learning described by the three teachers. A deeper analysis of the features of these provides a comprehensive picture of pedagogical goals that are intertwined and move between activity goals, working goals and transdisciplinary goals. These results contribute to our understanding of the characteristics of preschool pedagogy and the complex pedagogical practice preschool entails.
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| 8. |
- Björklund, Camilla, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Pattern discernment and pseudo-conceptual development in early childhood mathematics education
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 22:1, s. 89-104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this empirical study, we investigate an early childhood education activity in mathematics on the concept of ‘pattern’. The children participating in the study attend an intermediate form of schooling in Sweden called ‘the preschool class for six-year-olds’, intended to facilitate their transition from preschool to school. Following a prolonged activity over 45 minutes, we analyse for what the children are supported in discerning and what they give as evidence of having discerned in and about patterns. The theoretical point of departure is variation theory, conceptualising learning as increased discernment. The results show that in terms of the important Vygotskian distinction between ‘pseudo concepts’ and ‘concepts (proper)’, the children's discernment and what they are supported in discerning are of the former kind. Pseudo concepts are discussed as integral to the institutional form of the preschool class and premised to be important to the child's further conceptual development.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Bourbour, Maryam, 1977-
(författare)
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Teachers’ mediated teaching actions through Interactive Whiteboard
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aims to investigate the ways in which a particular digital technology, the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB), mediates preschool teachers’ teaching. The following more precise research questions were explored in this study: How do IWBs mediate teaching actions? What is privileged in IWB-mediated teaching actions? Over five months, five preschool teachers and 22 children aged 4-6 were video observed. By identifying aspects of IWB as a mediational means, the findings of the study have shed light on the relationship between mediational means and teachers’ mediated teaching actions and mapped what is privileged. This study highlights seven ways that using a particular digital technology, the IWB, informs teachers’ teaching practices. This study, furthermore, maps the possible consequences of using IWB in terms of opportunities and constraints in early education.
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| 11. |
- Bourbour, Maryam, 1977-
(författare)
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Using digital technology in early education teaching: learning from teachers’ teaching practice with interactive whiteboard
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 31:1, s. 269-286
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aims to investigate the ways in which a particular digital technology, the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB), mediates preschool teachers’ teaching. Over five months in 2017 and early spring 2018, five preschool teachers and 22 children aged 4–6 were video observed. By identifying aspects of IWB as a mediational means, the findings of the study have shed light on the relationship between mediational means and teachers’ mediated teaching actions and mapped what is privileged. This study highlights seven ways that using a particular digital technology, the IWB, informs teachers’ teaching practices. This study, furthermore, maps the possible consequences of using IWB in terms of opportunities and constraints in early education.
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| 12. |
- Due, Karin, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers’ conceptualisations of science teaching–obstacles and opportunities for pedagogical continuity across early childhood school forms
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 31:3, s. 790-805
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aims to contribute knowledge about obstacles and opportunities for pedagogical continuity in science across early childhood education. We use activity theory to analyse individual interviews and group meetings with teachers from preschool (age 1–5), preschool class (age 6) and grade 1–3 (age 7–9) in three Swedish school units. The teachers’ descriptions of their science teaching indicate both obstacles and opportunities for pedagogical continuity. For example, all teachers want to establish an interest in, and foster a caring attitude to nature, a similarity that facilitates continuity. However, some crucial differences indicate obstacles. There is a shift concerning ownership; from following children’s initiatives in preschool in bodily and play based experiences towards an emphasis on pre-planned content, verbal knowledge and written documentation in grade 1–3. Our findings also suggest that teachers lack knowledge about each other's teaching and curricula. Hence, the conditions for pedagogical continuity largely rest upon what children share in the science class. We argue that there is need for an in-depth exchange of experiences, regarding content, teaching methods and frame factors, between teachers from different school forms.
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| 13. |
- Einarsdottir, Johanna, et al.
(författare)
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Democracy, caring and competence : values perspectives in ECEC curricula in the Nordic countries
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 23:1, s. 97-114
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the study is to explore how Nordic Early Childhood Education and Carepolicies frame values education in preschools with a special focus on the values ofdemocracy, caring and competence. The study is part of a larger Nordic project, Valueseducation in Nordic preschools: Basis of education for tomorrow, the aim of which isto explore values education from various perspectives, policy levels, institutional levelsand personal levels. The study applies Habermas’s theoretical ideas of communicativeactions, lifeworld, and the system. Here the focus is on the system level, namely, valuesin national curriculum guidelines that serve as the basis of pedagogical practices inpreschools in the Nordic countries. Thematic research analysis described by Braun andClarke inspired the qualitative analysis of the documents. In addition, a quantitativelanguage-based approach was applied to the study. Keywords related with democratic,caring and competence values were selected. The findings reveal different dimensionsand meanings of the three value fields, such as democracy as being and/or becoming;care as fulfilment of basic needs and an ethical relationship; and competence values aslearning for sociality and academic skills.
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| 14. |
- Ekström, Anna, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Children’s touch in a Swedish preschool : touch cultures in peer group interaction
- 2024
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 32:1, s. 103-121
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examines children’s touch conduct in peer-group interaction in a Swedish preschool. Through a detailed analysis of 100 video-recorded touch episodes from everyday preschool activities, the study proposes an initial description of touch functions in children’s peer groups. The results suggest that touch was primarily used to control other children and to show affection. Both affectionate and control touch played significant roles to form and protect small social units within the larger group of children. Affectionate touch also played a central role in children’s friendship groups to establish and uphold intimate social relations. Children’s peer relations involved extended forms of touch between both boys and girls, and in mixed gender constellations. Children both initiated and received peer touch without paying these actions specific attention, and they granted others access to their whole bodies including vulnerable body parts. Children’s touch regularly occurred in parallel with other activities and was routinely not verbally topicalised as focal point of interaction. Detailed examination of touch episodes provides well-informed ground for understanding specificities of embodied conduct as socially and normatively organised children’s touch cultures.
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| 15. |
- Emilson, Anette, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Participation and gender in circle-time situations in pre-school
- 2013
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 21:1, s. 56-69
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study sought to investigate participatory values in relation to gender, asexpressed in interactions between teachers and children in circle-time situations inSwedish and Norwegian preschools. This paper reports evidence from threeresearch questions: How is children’s participation conditioned in circle-timesituations? How are participatory values communicated to girls and boys? andWhat gender-related patterns emerge in teacherchild interactions in circletimesituations? The study is informed by Habermas’ concepts of strategic andcommunicative actions, as well as Davies’ idea of duality, the bi-polarity, betweenfemininity and masculinity. Data consist of video observations of teacher andchild interactions during circle time. The results show that children’s participationis conditional on children’s own willingness to participate, and on teachers’willingness to involve the children in a communicative action. Data reveal that thegirls are more likely to take the initiative than boys and appear more comfortable insuch an active position. It was also noted that there is a tendency for practitioners tointerpret and value male and female traits as oppositional behaviours.
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| 16. |
- Fridberg, Marie, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers’ and children’s use of words during early childhood STEM teaching supported by robotics
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; , s. 1-16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- With science and digitalisation emphasised further in the new Swedish preschool curriculum, there is a need to clarify teachers’ role in educating children in and about these areas. With research pointing out the importance of a conscious language use in STEM teaching, we here focus on words used by teachers and children during inquiry-based STEM activities in five different preschools. Bers’ powerful ideas about early childhood computational thinking (Bers 2018. Coding as a Playground. New York: Routledge.) were used for analysis and results highlight how digital programming and use of robots can promote a more versatile use of robotic words, compared to analogue, ‘unplugged’, programming without robots. Furthermore, it is also found that use of precise decontextualised language by the teacher seems to stimulate children’s use of words related to STEM and the object of learning. The findings add to the discussion about how teachers can scaffold children’s learning by inquiry teaching of STEM supported by robotics.
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| 17. |
- Fridberg, Marie, et al.
(författare)
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Teachers’ and children’s use of words during early childhood STEM teaching supported by robotics
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 32:2, s. 405-419
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- With science and digitalisation emphasised further in the new Swedish preschool curriculum, there is a need to clarify teachers’ role in educating children in and about these areas. With research pointing out the importance of a conscious language use in STEM teaching, we here focus on words used by teachers and children during inquiry-based STEM activities in five different preschools. Bers’ powerful ideas about early childhood computational thinking (Bers 2018. Coding as a Playground. New York: Routledge.) were used for analysis and results highlight how digital programming and use of robots can promote a more versatile use of robotic words, compared to analogue, ‘unplugged’, programming without robots. Furthermore, it is also found that use of precise decontextualised language by the teacher seems to stimulate children’s use of words related to STEM and the object of learning. The findings add to the discussion about how teachers can scaffold children’s learning by inquiry teaching of STEM supported by robotics.
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| 18. |
- Frödén, Sara, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Guiding children towards individual and collective growth : Educative participatory experiences in a preschool setting
- 2024
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 32:2, s. 334-348
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article is based on a fieldwork study that explored a 1-year-long process of integrating children's human rights-respecting practice in a preschool through a project with a popular culture theme. Drawing on John Dewey's educational theory, educative participatory experience is suggested as a useful concept to further understand and develop different forms of participation practices. The twofold aim of the article is to demonstrate the children's educative participatory experiences and relate these to the teacher's acknowledgement of both children's collective agency and their individual capacity to participate. The methods used are semi-structured interviews and video-documented and participatory observations. The data mainly consists of field notes, video recordings, photographs and transcripts. The results show that the teachers are viewing the children, and providing possibilities for them to act, as knowledgeable experts, competent conflict-solvers and reflective and caring practitioners. Furthermore, they consider both the children's individual and collective rights and responsibilities when creating a rights-respecting preschool environment.
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| 19. |
- Gustavsson, Laila, 1947-, et al.
(författare)
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The educational nature of different ways teachers communicate with children about natural phenomena
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 22:1, s. 59-72
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This empirical study analyses the qualitatively different ways in which teachers approach children’s learning in and about nature. The empirical data consists of video observations of children and teachers communicating with one another around natural phenomena found during excursions into a forest. Variation theory is presented as a framework for analysing the opportunities teachers provide for children’s learning. The study identifies three qualitatively different ways in which teachers communicate with children: one based on the principle of opening up dimensions of variation, the second building on presumed shared previous experience as a resource for making sense of a novel observation and the third involving children through using a make-believe playful approach. The implications of these three different approaches for children’s learning are discussed.
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
- Harju, Anne, et al.
(författare)
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Opening up new spaces for languaging practice in early childhood education for migrant children
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 28:2, s. 151-161
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores language practice in early childhood education for children new to the majority language, discussing how language practice can be transformed through actions such as reflexive dialogues with educators. In a Swedish action-research project, educators and researchers collaborated in reflexive dialogues to develop language practice in a preschool with large linguistic diversity. Various activities forming the basis of the dialogues were implemented, including photography by children enabling them to share their experiences. The results indicate that the educators positioned themselves between two common approaches to language practice for migrant children, i.e. multilingualism and monolingualism, a positioning evident in their language practice. Although striving for a multilingual approach, the educators' daily activity structure and talk about the children recalled monolingual norms, assuming that people with access to several languages must master one before learning another. Through implementing actions including children's perspectives and introducing 'translanguaging', language practice developed towards multilingualism, focusing increasingly on language as a process for expression and meaning-making rather than a tool for mastering the majority language. This approach turned educators away from deficit assumptions, instead emphasising children's skills and agency.
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| 23. |
- Johansson, Eva, et al.
(författare)
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Conflicts and resistance : Potentials for democracy learning in preschool
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 24:1, s. 19-35
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study aims to develop knowledge about learning for democracy in ECEC, through investigating acts of resistance in conflicts and examine these as potentials for democracy learning. The study is informed by Mouffe’s theoretical ideas about conflicts as a prerequisite for democracy. The research questions are: What kind of conflicts can be identified in everyday interactions in preschool? How do children and teachers express and maintain resistance in conflicts? What potentials for democracy learning are there in such acts? Data consist of video observations of interactions in four Swedish preschools. The analyses of the interactions comprised various readings to identify expressions of conflicts and ways to communicate resistance. Ethical considerations were paramount to ensure that the studies met the ethical requirements. Identified conflicts are described in terms of qualities of space: (a) Space for diversity illustrates openness for different opinions to be articulated and heard: (b) Space for unity illustrates how alliance building and authority create conditions and restrictions for opinions to be articulated, heard and/or neglected. Playfulness, courage and emotions are important traits for resistance and both agonism and antagonism appear to be at play. The conflicts identified offer both possibilities and obstacles in learning for democracy.
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| 24. |
- Klaar, Susanne, et al.
(författare)
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Doing, knowing, caring and feeling : exploring relations between nature-oriented teaching and preschool children's learning
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 22:1, s. 37-58
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research has shown that early childhood science education is based on education and care, sometimes stressed as a dichotomy. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the relations between teachers' teaching and children's learning in preschool practice, both in terms of educative processes and nature-oriented content. The ambition is also to develop and present an analysis method that facilitates these investigations. Outdoor nature experiences of preschool children (aged one to three) were video-recorded, transcribed and analysed. The methodology is based on John Dewey's pragmatic philosophy. Here, epistemological move analysis (oriented towards teachers' guiding processes as moves) and substantive learning quality analysis (oriented towards multi-dimensional learning qualities) are developed and used as analysis tools. The analyses show that the relations between teaching and learning processes and nature content are intertwined and include education and care. The teachers guide towards aesthetical, moral, cognitive and physical qualities in learning by challenging, admonishing, instructional, confirming, generative, reorienting and reconstructing moves. The results contribute to nature-oriented teaching practice and nature-oriented preschool research when discussing and investigating teaching and learning processes and nature content.
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| 25. |
- Kultti, Anne, 1976
(författare)
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Adding learning resources: A study of two toddlers’ modes and trajectories of participation in early childhood education.
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 23:2, s. 209-221
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study focuses on the nature of children’s participation in an Australian early childhood context in which their second language is used. The aim is to create knowledge of toddlers’ modes and trajectories of participation. Empirical data documenting the participation of two toddlers were gathered through video observa- tions of everyday activities in the childcare programme across six weeks. The concepts of legitimate peripheral participation and changed participation were used as analytical tools for interpreting the empirical data. Interaction of the toddlers is illustrated through images and transcripts. The analysis show how their participation is carried out through non-verbal communication in silence and movement, and how the toddlers moved, in different ways, towards coordinating activities with other children. The children’s trajectories illustrate how they come to participate in different ways and with additional learning resources. How the pedagogical approach acknowledges non-verbal actions and offers multiple modes and trajectories of participation is discussed.
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| 26. |
- Lagerlöf, Pernilla, 1972, et al.
(författare)
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Engaging children’s participation in and around a new music technology through playful framing
- 2013
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 21:4, s. 325-335
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article concerns children’s engagement and participation in a musical dialogue, with the adult taking the role of the more-experienced participant and frames the activity as a musical play activity (in both senses of the word ‘play’). It presents an analysis of empirical data from a session with two six-year-old children interacting with and around a new music technology in a Swedish preschool setting and explores what participating in these practices implies for the children’s learning. The results indicate that the communicatively established framing made it possible for the children (i.e. provided scaffolding for them) to participate actively in a joint playful music-making activity. The communicative framing provided by the adult who took the role of a more-experienced participant played a vital part in providing musical experiences, not only in guiding the children to explore the system but also in introducing mediating tools as a way of discerning musical aspects.
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| 27. |
- Lindahl, Mats, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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ICT in preschool: friendor foe? The significance of norms in a changing practice
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 20:4, s. 422-436
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Societal change and prescriptions in curricula demand a change in educationalpractice. This can create conflicts between practitioners’ usual practices (norms)and those prescribed by curricula. One example is the introduction of Informationand Communication Technology (ICT) into preschool practice. Hence, our aim isto analyse how norms are used as arguments for or against using computers inpreschool practice. Data consist of naturalistic texts from 31 preschool teacherstudents revealing their experiences in attempting to embed computers intopractice. Results show ambivalence to computer use. Two lines of argumentsemerged: one embracing the new technology, the other rejecting this newtechnology. The following arguments were made to justify ICT in preschool: thechild as a citizen, the competent child and the active child. Concern wasexpressed between the teacher’s need for control and the child’s need forindependence and guidance.
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| 28. |
- Ljung-Djärf, Agneta, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Ways of relating to computer use in pre-school activity
- 2005
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 13:1, s. 29-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the present study, three different pre-school settings were investigated. The dual aim of the study was to analyse the teachers’ ways of relating to the computer as a tool in pre-school activity, and to describe the three learning environments focusing upon how the computer was used. Data were collected at three Swedish pre-schools, where one computer was available in each department. Three ways of relating to computer use were identified: as a threat to other activities, as an available option, and as an essential activity. A relationship was found between these categories and the three learning environments, characterized respectively as protective, supporting, and guiding.
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| 29. |
- Ljung-Djärf, Agneta, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Ways of relating to computer use in pre-school activity
- 2005
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 13:1, s. 29-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the present study, three different pre-school settings were investigated. The dual aim of the study was to analyse the teachers’ ways of relating to the computer as a tool in pre-school activity, and to describe the three learning environments focusing upon how the computer was used. Data were collected at three Swedish pre-schools, where one computer was available in each department. Three ways of relating to computer use were identified: as a threat to other activities, as an available option, and as an essential activity. A relationship was found between these categories and the three learning environments, characterized respectively as protective, supporting, and guiding.
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| 30. |
- Magnusson, Maria, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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In 'Numberland': play-based pedagogy in response to imaginative numeracy
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 26:1, s. 24-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The overarching interest of this study concerns how to outline learning opportunities and support in early childhood education (ECE) without losing its play-based character. More specifically, the study reports an empirical investigation into the evolving activity of a 6.5-year-old child and an adult conversing about the child's drawing of 'Numberland'. What the child's drawing and his discussion about it with the adult tell us about his emergent mathematics skills is analysed. How the child shifts between speaking and enacting as if and as is, and how the adult supports his mathematics understanding through entering into the play-frame are analysed. How imaginary, play-based activities like this can provide the means for ECE and what this implies for the teacher are discussed.
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| 31. |
- Magnusson, Maria, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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Nordic Preschool Student Teachers’ Views on Early Writing in Preschool
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 30:4, s. 714-729
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates preschool student teachers’ views on how early writing should be supported in preschool. The sample consists of 66 preschool student teachers from Finland, Norway, and Sweden, who participated in the study by responding to open-ended questions on a written questionnaire. Results show that the respondents’ answers were underpinned by holistic views on children’s learning; they value children’s own initiative as a decisive learning factor. Further, the responses underscore the importance of a writing-inviting environment and the preschool teachers acting as role models. The respondents rarely offered explicit theoretical reasons and arguments for why they would encourage early writing. Based on the findings, it appears critical to discuss within the profession the issue why early writing should be encouraged.
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| 32. |
- Manni, Annika, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Places, spaces and encounters with nature–socio-material discourses in Swedish preschools
- 2024
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article investigates views and discourses on outdoor play in preschool teachers talks about their playgrounds and outdoor practices in Swedish preschools. Included were a strategic sample of teachers from newer, larger preschool facilities with more programmed outdoor space, and teachers from older, more traditional facilities containing more nature. Through interviews with 38 teachers at 21 preschools and a thematic analysis inspired by socio-material theory, we identified three main themes: The meanings and limits of free outdoor play, the view on nature and children’s encounters with nature,and dangers and risks in the playground. Within these themes, we show how the teachers’ views construct discourses related to the outdoor educational places and spaces that are available. Furthermore, changes in preschool curricula as well as in the playground material and design are active agents in constructing discourses on outdoor play, including risks and limitations, beyond teachers’ own beliefs on children’s needs.
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| 33. |
- Nasiopoulou, Panagiota
(författare)
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Decision-making factors for group organising in Swedish preschools
- 2024
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 32:2, s. 389-404
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explores preschool teachers’ considerations when organising children into subgroups in Swedish preschools. Grounded on interactionist perspectives and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the study hypothesises that preschool teachers’ practice of organising children into subgroups is embedded in and shaped through dynamic interactions with all actors and levels of the entire preschool system. Based on this theoretical framework, a hypothetical model has been specified that brings together variables related to children’s characteristics, preschool teachers’ interpersonal relationships and working conditions as well as preschools’ organisational aspects. The sample consists of 698 preschool teachers from different preschools in 46 municipalities in Sweden who completed an online questionnaire. By applying Confirmatory Factor Analysis technique in evaluating the hypothesised model, the study’s objective was to identify factors that determine preschool teachers’ decisions when organising children into subgroups. The analysis identified a three-factor model where two residual but distinct factors, namely an interrelational and a structural factor, were nested under one general factor. The results suggest that organising children into subgroups in preschool is partly a collectively negotiated practice and partly closely connected to the complexities of preschool classrooms’ actual conditions.
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| 34. |
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| 35. |
- Palla, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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Inclusive ideals and special educational tools in and out of tact : didactical voices on teaching in language and communication in Swedish early childhood education
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 30:2, s. 387-402
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this research is to highlight didactical voices on inclusive ideals and special educational tools noted in the written reflections of 178 preschool teachers in 10 Swedish municipalities. The research questions are as follows: How do preschool teachers signify inclusive ideals in written reflections of teaching in language and communication in preschools? Which special educational tools emerge in the written reflections about teaching in language and communication in preschool, and how are these tools said to be used? The material was analysed with multi-voiced didactic modelling and didactical tact as a theoretical base. The results show that there are didactical voices on inclusion in the analysed material. The core foundation of the teaching appears to be built upon inclusive ideals where all children are involved, included and part of the group. Utterances of a more individual character are sparingly present. In our interpretation, the (special) educational tools that are brought to the fore are described and used in an inclusive way and are didactically modelled into more general, rather than specialised, tools.
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| 36. |
- Palmér, Hanna, 1974-
(författare)
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Collective and individual perspectives on preschool mathematics within a professional development programme
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 27:3, s. 306-321
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article explores collective and individual perspectives onpreschool mathematics within a professional developmentprogramme. All seven teachers at one Swedish preschoolparticipated in a one-year research-based professionaldevelopment programme. At the beginning and then again at theend of the programme, the teachers collectively wrote down theirgoals for mathematics teaching at the preschool. In the article,these goals will be compared to three teachers’individual writingsduring the year. This comparison indicates that the professionaldevelopment of these teachers may have been collective, but notjoint, as the collectively written goals seem to imply slightlydifferent things for the individual teachers. Thus, what may looklike collective goals for the teaching of mathematics at onepreschool may in fact imply quite large differences in themathematics teaching of individual teachers. If collectiveprofessional development programmes are to have an impact,differences between teachers need to be made visible and, as anext step, be the basis for the development of professionallanguage as well as evaluation and planning of preschoolmathematics and further professional development.
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| 37. |
- Palmér, Hanna, 1974-
(författare)
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Using tablet computers in preschool : How does the design of applications influence participation, interaction and dialogues?
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 23:4, s. 365-381
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The results in this article explore whether and how the design of applications used on tablet computers influences the interaction and dialogues that occur between children and pedagogues, the participation of children in the activities and the mathematics that can be learned. While mathematics offered a lens to explore the use of tablet devices, child–teacher interactions is the focus of this article. Twelve pedagogues were observed as they used different applications with 25 preschool children. These applications were categorised based on their classification (boundaries of the application) and framing (form of the application). It was shown that the same pedagogue interacted differently with the children based on the application they were using. Further, the children’s participation as well as the structure and content of the dialogues between pedagogues and children differed based on classification and the framing of the application used. The results indicate that the design of the applications influences the pedagogues and the educational context in which children are invited to participate.
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| 38. |
- Petersson, Jöran, et al.
(författare)
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Parent-initiated activities in support of Swedish year-one children’s learning of mathematics : age-appropriate complements to school?
- 2022
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 30:4, s. 831-846
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, motivated in part by evidence that Swedish teachers are sceptical of parents’ abilities to offer appropriate support, we present an exploratory investigation of the activities Swedish parents initiate to facilitate their year-one (first grade) children’s learning of mathematics. Data, derived from 25 semi-structured interviews conducted with parents from three demographically different schools, were subjected to constant comparison analyses and yielded three broad categories of activity. These concerned the use of games in the learning of mathematics, contextualised mathematics activities like cooking and shopping, and decontextualised mathematics activities like systematic counting. Collectively, the results indicate that while parents of year-one children are confident supporting their children’s learning of mathematics, they are also conscious of the need to avoid both undermining schools’ efforts and exacerbating educational inequity. With few exceptions, the activities parents described were age-appropriate and more likely to complement teachers’ actions than not.
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| 39. |
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| 40. |
- Pramling Samuelsson, Ingrid, 1946, et al.
(författare)
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The art of teaching children the arts: Music, dance, and poetry with children 2-8 years old
- 2009
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 17:2, s. 119-135
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article, the theoretical framework of developmental pedagogy is presented as a tool in studying and developing children’s knowing within the arts. The domains of art focused on are music, poetry and dance/aesthetic movement. Through empirical examples from a large-scale research project, we illustrate the tools of developmental pedagogy and show how this perspective contributes to our understanding of children’s learning of music, dance and poetry. More specifically, we will analyse: (a) the important role of the teacher in children’s learning within the arts; (b) the importance of conversing when learning the arts; (c) what constitutes the knowledge, what we refer to as ‘learning objects’, to be appropriated within the three domains of art focused on; and (d) how to conceive of progression in children’s knowing within the arts.
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| 41. |
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| 42. |
- Pramling Samuelsson, Ingrid, 1946, et al.
(författare)
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The relation of play and learning empirically studied and conceptualised
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 31:2, s. 309-323
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Play is considered an important aspect of Early Childhood Education and Care. However, the relationship between play and learning is often taken for granted both in research and praxis. In this article, we study our own research group’s empirical work over a 40-year period, and how we have used the concepts of play and learning. We observed that how the relation between play and learning has been conceptualised, have gone through changes during this period in a number of ways, in line with other research, influenced by policy, and theorised grounded in empirical studies towards what is called Developmental Pedagogy. Children’s perspectives and teacher’s sensitivity and responsiveness have been important features of the process of developing the preschool pedagogy in which play and learning are central. The relationship between play and learning are conceptualised differently, at the same time as the content (sometimes called curriculum in the English-speaking world) are equally important in the early as well as latest steps of this development in research.
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| 43. |
- Quennerstedt, Ann, 1967-
(författare)
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Young children's enactments of human rights in early childhood education
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 24:1, s. 5-18
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores ways in which human rights become part of and affect young children’s everyday practices in early childhood education and, more particularly, how very young children enact human rights in the preschool setting. The study is conducted in a Swedish preschool through observations of the everyday practices of a group of children aged between 1 and 3 years. With a child view based on human rights theory and childhood sociology, an action-based methodology for seeking children’s perspective is used to analyse the observation data. Three rights areas are identified in which children frequently deal with human rights in their actions and where they enact a range of possible rights holder positions: ownership, influence and equal value. These rights areas, and the children’s various enactments of the rights, are reflected against the preschool context as a co-constructor to the actions of the participants.
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| 44. |
- Samuelsson, Robin, 1985-
(författare)
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Multimodal interaction for science learning in preschool : Conceptual development with external tools across a science project
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Routledge. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 27:3, s. 254-270
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper studies the scaffolding of conceptual development for children aged 4–5 years old during a science project at a Swedish preschool. It specifically examines how bodily knowledge and language are used in interaction, and how conceptual knowledge can be scaffolded with the use of external tools and artefacts. The science project was tracked for seven weeks and the analytical focus is on situations where a computer and a projected screen are used. The study shows how interactions afforded by the set-up provide a virtual-physical setting where teachers and children can interact using both language and bodily modes. As such, it provided an interactional space where teachers can scaffold children’s tactile understandings towards conceptual knowledge by building on the children’s prior experiences, and knowledge is cumulated over time during the project. This is accomplished by focusing attention on the topic and through the use of tools in interaction. Possible implications and uses for early childhood education are discussed in the light of these results.
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| 45. |
- Sandberg, Anette, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Preschool – home cooperation in change
- 2008
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 16:2, s. 151-161
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this study is to bring forth preschool teachers’ and parents’ views on both established and future forms of cooperation between the preschool and home. The empirical sample is based on both individual and focus-group interviews. Results show that cooperation mainly revolves around the individual child. The form of cooperation that is the least established among both preschool teachers and parents tends to be the parent council. It is concluded that it is important for preschool teachers to provide varied and rich forms of cooperation, as different forms of cooperation appeal to different parents. With a wide range, there is a possibility to reach all parents.
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| 46. |
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| 47. |
- Sheridan, Sonja, 1952
(författare)
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Dimensions of pedagogical quality in preschool
- 2007
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 15:2, s. 198-217
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Four dimensions of pedagogical quality focusing on children's opportunities for learning and development in preschool are suggested. This article explores how they are constituted and how they can be used for evaluation to discern pedagogical quality as a whole and part of a whole and to understand how quality is experienced and valued from different perspectives. The four dimensions are: those of society, the child, the teacher and the learning context. This approach to evaluation has evolved from a meta-analysis of the results of four empirical studies. The object of research in this article was children's possibilities for participation and influence in preschool. When the four dimensions of quality were used for evaluation, a broader and deeper picture of influence and participation as a pedagogical quality emerged. The results highlight the complexity of pedagogical quality and how it is constituted in the interaction between various dimensions and aspects of human and material resources. It shows that, in order to grasp the complexity of pedagogical quality, it is necessary to study the same aspect, phenomenon and situation from more than one perspective at one and the same time.
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| 48. |
- Sheridan, Sonja, 1952, et al.
(författare)
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Preschool a source for young children's learning and well-being
- 2013
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article aims to examine dominant discourses and changing paradigmatic views on children’s learning and well-being in preschool in relation to theories on learning and research on quality and policy in Sweden. The key question: what are the main changes in policy, pedagogy and views of children’s learning? The article builds on research that has been carried out by the research group in early childhood education at the University of Gothenburg. The results of these studies are analysed here through four dimensions of quality. The theoretical framework is based on interactionist perspectives, which bring together theories of learning in which individuals and the environment influence and are influenced by one another in continuous interaction and communication. The results demonstrate the interdependence and reciprocity between policy, views on children’s learning, children’s perspectives and preschool pedagogy. The results show that high-quality preschool is a product of the combined efforts of stakeholders on different system levels, confirming the significance of a comprehensive perspective when researching conditions for children’s learning in preschool.
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| 49. |
- Sigurdadottir, Ingibjörg, et al.
(författare)
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Preschool teachers communicating values to children
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 27:2, s. 170-183
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This empirical study aims to find if and how preschool teachers communicate values they consider important for children to learn in preschool. The study is a part of a Nordic research project on values education in Nordic preschools. Values are understood as desirable principles that guide human actions. Theoretically, the study draws on a sociocultural perspective and Habermas’ theory of communicative action. The data consists of approximately 17h of video observations of communication between preschool teachers and children. Two episodes were chosen for further analysis and in-depth discussion. Care, respect, and discipline had been agreed on as important values to communicate to preschool children. The preschool teachers used different approaches to communicate these values, depending on their professional and personal backgrounds. The values were communicated implicitly rather than explicitly. The study contributes to research on values education in the ECE and gives reasons for reflection on the practices of preschool teachers.
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| 50. |
- Skantz Åberg, Ewa, 1965
(författare)
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‘Horrible or happy – we’ll have a little grey now’: aesthetic judgements in children’s narration with an interactive whiteboard
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Journal of Early Years Education. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0966-9760 .- 1469-8463. ; 25:1, s. 72-88
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This empirical study investigates what activities emerge when six-year olds are instructed to create narratives with an interactive whiteboard (IWB). A detailed analysis is provided of what the participants are oriented towards in the activity, and further what aesthetic judgements are used and their role in the evolving activity. Theoretically, the study builds on a sociocultural perspective on learning and Dewey’s (1934–80. Art as Experience. New York, NY: Perigee Books) philosophy on aesthetic experience. The empirical data consist of video recordings of six technology-mediated story-making activities in a preschool class. The findings show that even when the teacher attempts to scaffold narrative learning, the children direct their attention foremost to the visual arts, which occasionally lead to the participants’ insufficient intersubjectivity. This finding is explained with reference to the inherent design of the IWB. Furthermore, the participants frequently use aesthetic judgements on both actions and the created visual objects. The judgements turn out to constitute directives in terms of leading the activities forward and, importantly, being indicators of the children’s learning.
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