Professionalismens spændingsfelt – om principledet professionalisme i udviklingen af den pædagogiske læreplan i dagtilbud

Author
Hansen, N. F., Pedersen, P. M.
Source
Forskning i Pædagogers Profession og Uddannelse, 2(1):80-95.
Year
2018

Purpose

The study investigates how political welfare decisions affect daily pedagogical practice in kindergartens. The researchers base their study on the Danish Parliament’s 2017 reform agreement ‘Strong ECEC Settings’ and investigate how the curriculum was implemented in two Danish kindergartens. The reform provided kindergartens with a lot of room for interpretation, and the article addresses a development and research project that has tested how one can implement the reform in the field of tension that exists between the agreement’s guidelines and the educators’ professional practice. The researchers draw inspiration from Ivor Goodson’s hypothesis of principled professionalism, and investigate whether there are traces of this in the kindergartens’ translation of the reform. According to Goodson, there are two ways for professions to translate political reforms: Either one uncritically adopts the political administration’s models and concepts, or one clings onto one’s own self-supporting practice. Principled professionalism is a third way to go, where the ambition is to recapture professionalism which rests on moral and ethical principles. Through open collaboration with the surrounding world, one deals with the political control and steering mechanisms in a professional manner.

Result

The researchers found clear signs of principled professionalism in the field of tension between political steering documents and the educators’ translation of them. Through the project, a figure of thought was developed that identifies elements of principled professionalism. The researchers believe that the model can be used in the ongoing reflection on the pedagogical work and as a basis for an ongoing documentation and evaluation of practice.

Design

Four pedagogical leaders, four kindergarten teachers and two student kindergarten teachers from two kindergartens in Aarhus participated in professional circles together with two researchers from kindergarten teacher education. A total of five circle meetings were held where the educators and researchers read drafts of the new curriculum and discussed it.

References

Hansen, N. F. & Pedersen, P. M. (2018). «Professionalismens spændingsfelt – om principledet professionalisme i udviklingen af den pædagogiske læreplan i dagtilbud». Forskning i Pædagogers Profession og Uddannelse, 2(1):80-95.