Abstract
This article uses the concept of ‘superdiversity’ as a lens through which various conceptualisations of diversity in Norwegian early childhood education and care policies and professionals’ understandings are made visible. Although Norwegian early childhood education and care is expected to highlight, value, and promote diversity and mutual respect, little has been written on how diversity is actually understood by professionals as part of early childhood education and care institutional practice. On the basis of interviews with 2 migration pedagogues, 10 early childhood education and care teachers, and 15 early childhood education and care teacher education students, the following conceptualisations of diversity were reconstructed: diversity as embodied by different children and families; diversity as a social context for every child’s becoming; and diversity as equal participation. Each of these accounts involved ways of working with children and families from minority and majority backgrounds, and ‘diversity as a social context for every child’s becoming’ seemed to be most in line with the Norwegian curriculum. The curriculum focuses on the process of formative development/becoming, which overlaps with and may be meaningfully supplemented by superdiversity. However, superdiversity as a sociological concept requires careful operationalisation in dialogue with the field and its empirics .
Highlights
The Norwegian state has officially declared itself an intercultural society in which diversity is expected to be practised through inclusion and participation, and there are many ways to be Norwegian (White Paper no. 49, 2003–2004)
In the analysed empirical material, the diversity brought by particular ‘others’ was related to a migrant or indigenous background and family structures
In the analysis presented here, superdiversity functions first as a lens that enables the perception of various trajectories of diversity’s conceptualisation in Norwegian policy documents and locally used theories, as well as among ECEC professionals working at different levels
Summary
The Norwegian state has officially declared itself an intercultural society in which diversity is expected to be practised through inclusion and participation, and there are many ways to be Norwegian (White Paper no. 49, 2003–2004). This article aims to reconstruct such conceptualisations of diversity, as well as its operationalisation, in institutional contexts. Since the picture may be both complex and dynamic, the ECEC term ‘superdiversity’ is applied as a categorical lens. Superdiversity focuses on trajectories rather than static subcategories of diversity. It was imported into sociology to describe individual and collective processes of suffering or paths to criminality, and later evolved into descriptions of diverse status passages and life courses involving individual experiences and social/ organisational contexts (Riemann and Schütze, 1991). Using the lens of superdiversity, the trajectories examined in this article relate to paths of meanings that ECEC staff have connected to diversity, as well as their perceptions of their implementation of diversity in their own practice
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
