Purpose
This study is part of the project entitled “The Welfare State, media and modernisation”. The main objective of this study is to apply media and childhood perspectives to welfare policy in order to answer two overall questions: 1) What happens to play when it is to be presented as part of the measures by the welfare state for young children at daycare centres and when it is communicated via daycare-centre programmes. 2) How are TV programmes on play transformed into tools to make the daycare centre part of the educational system and the concept of lifelong learning?
Result
On the basis of the material examined, it is concluded that there were two ideals in the 1970s regarding the child at play; one was the competent, enterprising child, while the other was the romantic concept of the free child. Through the 1980s, and in particular in the 1990s, the idea of the child as learning in a daycare centre context and new discourse on the child involved that play and learning took place at the same time. Towards 2000 the discourse on the child at play and simultaneously learning formed the basis of a view of the child as a pivotal player for the country’s future. Therefore, in overall terms the view of the child has changed and today the view of the competent child is predominant. However there are still many conflicting views of the child as free, dependent, passive and competent, and these conflicting conceptions are met by the child every day.
Design
The study includes a discourse analysis of documents and TV programmes from 1970-2000.
References
Lindgren, A.-L. (2006). Från små människor till lärande individer: Föreställningar om barn och barndom i förskoleprogram 1970-2000. Lund: Arkiv.
Financed by
The project is being funded by the Jubileumskommitté under the Swedish Riksbanken and the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company