Temporal settings in kindergarten: a lens to trace historical and current cultural formation ideals?

Abstract

ABSTRACTRegulation of time is an important structuring tool of everyday practices in kindergarten. Despite the fundamental importance, investigation of temporal patterns have been underestimated in early childhood education research. The purpose of this article is to illuminate how ideas of childhood and children's cultural formation are embedded in the temporal order in everyday life of children in kindergarten. Concepts and perspectives from cultural historical theory have framed the design of the study and the research question; what cultural formation ideals can be traced in the temporal order of kindergartens in different cultural contexts. Data material has been generated in two kindergartens, one in China, and one in Norway. Observations and time studies have contributed with knowledge about what is going on in the kindergarten and the time aspect of what is going on. Semi-structured focus group interviews with the kindergarten teachers have illuminated why time is regulated as it is in the two kindergartens. The main findings indicate synchronic time and efficiency in the Chinese kindergarten and flexible individualized time in the Norwegian kindergarten. Traces of cultural formation ideals have been identified as the interdependent competitive child in the Chinese kindergarten and the independent vulnerable child in the Norwegian kindergarten.