Dialoger om Kvalitet: Hvordan viden om kvalitet udveksles, forstås og styres i to kommuners organisering af daginstitutionsområdet

The research project has investigated how knowledge about quality is exchanged, understood and managed in the municipal organisation of two kindergartens. The aim is to present a nuanced overview of different understandings of the content of quality, and how the various actors collaborate on quality in kindergarten in more or less meaningful ways. The focus of the investigation is to describe different approaches to coexisting but different notions of how the actors ‘should’ evaluate, document and illustrate the quality, as well as how this knowledge is used in the organisation. The research question is: What type of dialogue and exchange processes, understandings and reasons for the administration are applicable regarding the collaboration on quality in two municipal organisations of the kindergarten area? In addition, the project has formulated four work questions: a) How is knowledge about quality exchanged across kindergartens and administrations? b) What does quality in kindergartens mean to the actors? c) What are the management ambitions that form the framework for the work on quality? d) What critical-constructive input regarding the collaboration on quality in kindergartens can be raised based on the analysis?

A general feature of the two municipalities is that there is a high degree of uncertainty about which quality criteria the pedagogical work is managed and evaluated in relation to. This leads to a high degree of complexity in the dialogues about quality. Therefore, the different reasons for what quality is are sometimes in conflict with each other. Other times, they are linked together in strategic association, and sometimes they appear as parallel requirements in the work on documentation, data and evaluation. In this organisational complexity, work is conducted across levels to translate, explain and sort information about quality, so that the information can serve as a basis for decision-making and be transformed into pedagogical practice.

The investigation is a case study based on interviews with educators, institutional leaders, educational consultants, administrative managers and kindergarten coordinators in two Danish municipalities about their experiences and perceptions of collaboration on quality in the municipality. In addition, several municipal and national political documents are also analysed.

Kampmann, N. E., Pors, A. S., Trangbæk, L. & Kampmann, J. (2019). «Dialoger om Kvalitet: Hvordan viden om kvalitet udveksles, forstås og styres i to kommuners organisering af daginstitutionsområdet». Forskningsrapport. Københavns Professionshøjskole.