Viden i spil i daginstitutioner

In the research project Viden i spil i daginstitutioner (knowledge in games at ECEC centres), the researchers are interested in examining how ECEC teachers orient themselves in practice and give their actions direction. By looking at ECEC teachers' everyday narratives, the researchers aim at gaining insight into the knowledge that ECEC teachers bring into play and use in their pedagogical practice.

The project shows that a significant part of ECEC teachers' professionalism is to know how to act in situations which cannot be planned in advance, but which take place in the specific interaction with the children. In these situations, ECEC teachers draw on pedagogical knowledge which gives their actions direction and says something about what good pedagogical theory and practice is. According to the authors, this knowledge holds an interface between two values which the ECEC teachers attempt to balance in their pedagogical work. One value is about meeting the individual child as a distinctive person who has his/her own presence in the world, while the other value is about supporting the child in developing his/her ability to be part of committing communities. The ECEC teachers thus focus on the duality that lies within creating committing communities in a way that respects the individual's freedom.

Moreover, the project indicates that ECEC teachers emphasise everyday life at the ECEC centres as a place in which the children can practice finding their own place in the community and at the same time be themselves. The ECEC teachers consider everyday life and its routines and being together as important in a pedagogical context.

The research project served as a collaboration between four researchers and five ECEC centres on exploring ECEC teachers' own narratives from everyday life at the ECEC centre. The empirical foundation of the study consists of about 200 narratives presented in narrative rooms in which researchers, pedagogical staff and leaders exchanged and examined narratives from practice. The report itself was built as a research narrative in line with the narrative approach of the project. Among other things, the analysis was inspired by hermeneutics and narrative theory.

Togsverd, L., Rothuizen, J. J. E., Jørgensen, H. H., & Weise, S. (2017). Viden i spil i daginstitutioner. Forskningsrapport. VIA University College.