Innhald i barnehagen i lys av politisk fokus på barnehagefeltet.

The purpose of this study is to direct focus towards pedagogical activities in Norwegian daycare facilities and to discuss these in the light of increased political focus on this field. The researcher wants to examine the pedagogical activities emphasised by early childhood educators and childcare assistants (untrained staff) in their daily work with the children. The following research questions were asked: 1) Does political focus on the daycare area have consequences for daily work with children in daycare? 2) Is the content of daycare becoming more like the content of schooling? 3) What does professional practice mean to the content of daycare? Professional practice means the daily pedagogical practices of daycare staff.

The study shows that 70% of the early childhood educators and 56% of the childcare assistants believe that the increased political focus on daycare could be seen as a consequence of the revised curriculum in this area. Both early childhood educators and childcare assistants state that they put great emphasis on care in their work, but they also stress play as an activity with high priority. Furthermore, the study shows that emphasis is on care and play to the same degree, irrespective of the number of years’ experience the staff have. This is different in connection with children’s learning. Here, the study shows that the longer the experience of the early childhood educators and the childcare assistants, the more focus they have on the children’s learning. A total of 49% of the childcare assistants and 50% of the early childhood educators who have less than four years’ experience do not place great emphasis on learning. This aspect develops gradually and after 18 years of experience, 63% of the childcare assistants and 62% of the early childhood educators place great emphasis on learning.

The data material comprises a questionnaire which was sent to a random selection of 1000 Norwegian daycare facilities in spring 2009. The questionnaire was sent to the managers of the daycare facilities, who forwarded the questionnaire to early childhood educators and childcare assistants (untrained staff). A total of 1192 early childhood educators and 1357 childcare assistants answered the questionnaire, corresponding to a response rate of 59%. The questions in the questionnaire were about two aspects. The first aspect was whether and how the staff had noticed the increased focus on the learning aspect at the daycare facility, and the second was about the content of the daycare prioritised by the early childhood educators and the childcare assistants in their work.

Vatne, B. (2012). Innhald i barnehagen i lys av politisk fokus på barnehagefeltet. Nordisk Barnehageforskning 5(20), 1-13.