Teaching in preschool:

Abstract

The problem of what characterises preschool teaching emerged in 2010, when the Swedish Education Act began regulating teaching in Swedish preschools. There are few comprehensive long-term studies that investigate teaching conducted in collaboration between preschool teachers, managers, and researchers, and that focus on testing not just one but multiple theory-informed teaching arrangements in preschools. Furthermore, there is a dearth of replication studies in general and of conceptual replication studies of collaborative research focused on preschool teaching in particular. This themed issue presents the results of a collaborative conceptual replication study based on a research and development (R&D) programme entitled “Multivocal teaching in preschools”. The issue is practically and theoretically positioned in a Continental–Nordic didaktik tradition, specifically a critical-reflective one. The articles in this themed issue present the results of testing theory-informed teaching arrangements in preschools, in which didaktik are combined with different content and teaching foci. One overarching contribution in this publication is the concept of multivocal didaktik modelling. This concept has been tried out in comprehensive collaborations and includes scientific bases and proven experiences that emerged in multivocal traces and didaktik models, in plural. Multivocal didaktik modelling are positioned within the framework of democratic values and in relation to the complex teaching realities in preschool. Overall indications of a contribution to knowledge development involve theory-informed practical development and practice-based theoretical and conceptual development. The concept of multivocal didaktik modelling can be further elucidated in future studies.