Abstract
The international trend of positioning the preschool as a pre-academic learning environment is challenging for preschool teachers, as it necessitates a balance between emotionally supportive interaction and goal-oriented learning instruction. However, previous research suggests that the complexities of such interactions need to be further studied. This article contributes by presenting a very detailed exploration of how social adaptation is pursued in a goal-oriented documentation activity. The study used a micro-sociological approach, characterized by the careful analysis of verbal and nonverbal interactions. Two research questions were raised: (1) How is social adaptation pursued in verbal and nonverbal interactions in preschool teacher–child relationships during a goal-oriented activity? and (2) How can social adaptation in the preschool context be understood in terms of a “deference-emotion system”? Interactions between a teacher and child in two video-recorded episodes were transcribed and sequentially analyzed thoroughly. The findings suggest that the interactions were regulated through an informal system of social sanctions, in which nonverbal signs of deference played a key role. The interaction was shown to be embedded in an institutional context that advocates goal-oriented instruction, thus highlighting the challenge of preschool teaching in attempting to promote goal-oriented processes while simultaneously maintaining respectful, caring teacher–child relationships.
Highlights
IntroductionEven though Swedish policy documents emphasize that it is the preschool activities that are to be assessed and documented rather than the children, research shows that documentation focuses predominantly on the individual children’s learning, emphasizing school-oriented learning [3]
Previous research on preschool education has revealed that adequate balance between supportive interaction and pre-academic instruction is a complex task
The current study shows that Scheff’s micro-sociological approach is relevant for exploring social adaptation in preschool
Summary
Even though Swedish policy documents emphasize that it is the preschool activities that are to be assessed and documented rather than the children, research shows that documentation focuses predominantly on the individual children’s learning, emphasizing school-oriented learning [3]. This focus causes the preschool teachers’ goal-oriented perspectives to be given precedence over the children’s perceptions, with an emphasis on the children’s predetermined performance [3,4,5]
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