Att stöda pedagogers relationella professionalism genom forskningscirklar

The aim of the study is to investigate how educators within the field of early childhood education and pre-school teaching experience that working in research circles can support their professional interpersonal skills. The two research questions are: 1) What qualitative changes in professional interpersonal skills do participants experience by working in research circles? 2) What aspects of the work that takes place in the research circles do the participants experience can promote these changes?

The study shows that working in research circles can contribute to the development of educators’ knowledge, patterns of action, professional self-confidence, self-image and collegiality. Important aspects of working in the research circles could be observation, discussion, reflection and processing of emotions and experiences, working with specialist literature and collaboration with the circle leader. The results indicate that research circles can be a powerful tool for professional development and a suitable way of supporting educators’ professional interpersonal skills.

The sample consisted of two research circles with seven participants in each circle, both led by a research-educated circle leader. All the participants were women of different ages, educational backgrounds, job descriptions and experience in the profession. During the 16 meetings, participants wrote logs in the form of freely worded answers to questions the leaders asked them. During the final meeting, the circle leaders conducted focus group interviews with the participants. 

Furu, A-C & Sandvik, M. (2019). "Att stöda pedagogers relationella professionalism genom forskningscirklar". Nordisk barnehageforskning, 18(1):1-16.