Preschool Practice Research Articles

Music-specialized teachers’ reasoning on music practice in preschool: Music knowledge, courage, and visions

According to the Swedish curriculum (SKOLFS 2018, p. 50), preschool teachers bear the responsibility for teaching and incorporating music into preschool practice. However, due to limited time dedicated to music in preschool teacher education, teachers specialized in music play a critical role as valuable resources in practice. Existing music education research has focused predominantly on music in preschool from the perspectives of preschool teachers and students, rather than specifically examining a group of teachers specialized in music. Hence, this study aims to explore and discuss how teachers specialized in music approach music practice within preschool settings. The study adopts an educational philosophy and music didaktik perspective in analyzing focus group discussions with teachers specialized in music. The results reveal that music knowledge focuses on craftsmanship, courage, and visions for the music specialist. Alternative combinations of theoretical perspectives shed light on a complex and intertwined practice with shifting emphases.

The travelling and embedding of discourses on quality in early childhood education and care

ABSTRACT The present article is a meta-ethnographic analysis of 15 first-order ethnographic studies with a focus on quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The aim of the study is to investigate how neoliberal policy discourses on quality in early childhood education and care travel between global and local contexts and how they become embedded in local preschool practices. Central concepts in the analysis are institutional strategic responses, social reproduction and change in relation to how neoliberal discourses on quality become embedded in local preschool practices. The findings show how neoliberal policy discourses on quality are transformed and embedded in local preschool practices with different results and responses. The analysis uncovers five strategic, institutional responses: Acquiescence, Avoidance, Manipulation, Compromise, and Defiance. Acquiescence and Avoidance show patterns of social reproduction and Manipulation, Compromise, and Defiance reveals a potential opportunity for social change.

Discourses in Swedish preschool music teachers’ conversations: proficiency, subordination and resistance

ABSTRACT In recent years, Swedish preschool has been subjected to significant changes. As there is a lack of studies examining how teachers in music rhetorically position themselves within this context, the aim is to study subject positions that are constructed in conversations between preschool music teachers (PMTs) and to discuss these positions in relation to the quality of preschool practice in music education. The theoretical and methodological framework is grounded in social constructionist theories and the empirical material consists of group conversations with PMTs. The results reveal three prominent discourses, the discourses of Proficiency, of Subordination and of Resistance. In conclusion, the PMTs show that they are opposed by other pedagogues in various ways. This makes the possibility of establishing a music-teaching practice on their level of expertise severely restricted, which in turn has an impact on the quality of the preschool practice in music education.

Portraits of Swedish natureculture identity – entanglements of (gender) equity and integration in early childhood education

ABSTRACT Photographs of children are used on a daily basis in Swedish preschool practice. Although the preschool curriculum prescribes gender equality and celebration of diversity, photographs of indoor activities have shown to display a homogenous view of children and an emphasis on masculine-coded productions and accomplishments. This article examines 325 photographs of outdoor activities from Swedish preschools with diverse ethnic compositions. Our results reveal a Swedish natureculture identity that is more explicitly performed in the multi-ethnic preschool classes. Since ideals of gender equality and closeness to nature connect to the image of Swedishness, this can be understood as compensatory pedagogy. Moreover, the natureculture identity appears to be neutral in relation to ethnicity and gender, which risks rendering diversity invisible. However, the displayed neutrality is also possible to understand as working towards equity where conventionally feminine values such as care, empathym and sensitivity are underscored as desirable for everyone.

Places, spaces and encounters with nature – socio-material discourses in Swedish preschools

ABSTRACT This article investigates views and discourses on outdoor play in preschool teachers talks about their playgrounds and outdoor practices in Swedish preschools. Included were a strategic sample of teachers from newer, larger preschool facilities with more programmed outdoor space, and teachers from older, more traditional facilities containing more nature. Through interviews with 38 teachers at 21 preschools and a thematic analysis inspired by socio-material theory, we identified three main themes: The meanings and limits of free outdoor play, the view on nature and children’s encounters with nature,and dangers and risks in the playground. Within these themes, we show how the teachers’ views construct discourses related to the outdoor educational places and spaces that are available. Furthermore, changes in preschool curricula as well as in the playground material and design are active agents in constructing discourses on outdoor play, including risks and limitations, beyond teachers’ own beliefs on children’s needs.

Outdoor Education in the Perception of Polish Preschool Teachers: A Focus Group Study

Objectives of the research: The aim of this study was to gather information about preschool teachers’ expectations and attitudes toward outdoor education in the context of shaping and improving the quality of education. The study sought to collect material that would address the following research questions: What does outdoor education mean to preschool teachers? How do preschool teachers implement outdoor activities? What are the challenges of outdoor education according to the surveyed teachers?
 Research methods: The main research method used was a focus interview.
 A brief description of the context of the issue: Human beings are connected to nature, we are part of it, and we live and function thanks to it. From early childhood, the natural environment is the closest and most natural for humans, and thanks to our cognitive needs and childlike perceptiveness, we immerse ourselves in the world of nature spontaneously and with great interest. Preschool teachers should see meeting children’s need for curiosity and discovery of new knowledge as a challenge, and prioritize activities in this area. Furthermore, the natural environment, due to its resources, can be perceived as a workshop that teaches knowledge about the world, allows for developing children’s vocabulary and shaping new concepts. It also teaches humility, patience and understanding. The environment naturally enhances the activity of children who feel comfortable in nature.
 Research findings: The importance of outdoor education in children’s development has been discussed for years. Unfortunately, as the results of the survey suggest, this does not convince teachers to move part of the educational process outdoors. Teachers list certain limitations and shortcomings as factors that prevent the implementation of this approach in Polish preschool institutions.
 Conclusions and recommendations: The teachers participating in the focus groups recognize that the implementation of outdoor education activities in kindergartens is necessary, if not indispensable. They see outdoor education primarily as an opportunity for experience-based learning and connecting with nature. The teachers are sufficiently motivated to offer outdoor activities so that children can play and learn simultaneously. However, many see significant obstacles in the education system when planning outdoor learning experiences for their students. To make outdoor education more sustainable and integrated into preschool practices, it would be necessary to remove these barriers and provide support at all levels of the education system and society.

Play-Activities with Scientific Content in Early Childhood Education

AbstractThis article attempts to address the challenge that preschool teachers face, when integrating a specific content area, science, with play. The study builds on the theoretical framework of Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care (PRECEC), in which teaching, and play are understood as a mutual activity. In this mutual activity, teachers and children signal their participation by shifting between as if (fantasy and fictional worlds) and as is (acquiring knowledge of the world as it is) (Pramling et al., 2019). The empirical data consists of video-observations of a preschool teacher and 1-4-year-old children who participate in activities that incorporate play and scientific content. The video-observations were analysed through studying how and why shifts between as is and as if were made by the preschool teacher. The results show that the preschool teacher made the play shift between as if and as is through different types of actions (voice change and bodily expression). Further, shifts seemed to be made with two aims in sight: science learning and socialisation. In conclusion, the preschool teacher (as a more knowledgeable adult) has an important role in creating a responsive environment and in introducing science content, which does not arise by itself. Implications for preschool teachers and preschool practice are discussed.

Entering the assemblage of (un) teaching

In this article, a collaborative Deleuze-Guattarian-inspired cartography is produced with preschool practitioners to explore the assemblages of teaching in preschool. The aim is to map how teaching comes into being in preschool planning and reflection practices following the movements of territorialisation and re-/de-territorialisation. Unwinding from a policy change that 4 years ago introduced teaching to the Swedish preschool curriculum, the overarching question of what teaching is and could be to follows through the text. The preschool teaching assemblages are visited through three territories in which different continuums of (un)teaching unfold when staying with the emerging messiness. The movements of de-territorialisation open for divergent thinking, questioning traditions and assumptions of how to conduct teaching in preschool practice, in entanglement with both local and global movements.

The Impact of Digital and Analog Approaches on a Multidimensional Preschool Science Education

Swedish preschool science practice is confined to a unique educational setting where upbringing, care, and education are intertwined. This allows teachers to develop innovative cross-curricular and multidimensional science teaching. At the same time, society demands the digitalization of preschool practice, which has caused concern not only about negative effects on children’s well-being but also the risk of foregrounding digital over analog tools in multidimensional and child-centered preschool practice. The aim of this study is to analyze how preschool teachers at the forefront of digitalization integrate digital and analog tools when teaching science and how this integration affects their practice. The data comprises documentation of digitalized science activities provided by ten preschool teachers and transcribed recall interviews with four of the teachers. Thematic content analysis and a framework for analyzing seven teaching dimensions of preschool science revealed the use of digital and analog tools as drivers for multidimensional science education. The findings show that the teachers primarily use digital tools to reinforce social learning, inclusion, and agency during science activities. Digital and analog tools were used to complement one another in pursuing the boundaries of multidimensional science. However, the content of this innovative and digitalized science teaching remained primarily within biology, the traditional scholarly discipline in preschool science. We conclude that the digitalization of preschool science seems to be used to strengthen and diversify teaching within the boundaries of overarching traditional preschool practice where nature encounters and children’s interests and well-being are at the forefront.

An ecology of practices – the hydrosocial cycle as a matter of concern in preschool children’s explorations

The aim of this article is to investigate the local ecology of practices in joint engagements with the hydrosocial cycle by preschool children, water specialists, and a researcher, in a Swedish urbanised coastal area. In particular, the article investigates the potential of Isabelle Stengers’ plea for creative meetings, knowledge exchanges and collaborations to produce relational practices between different parts of society, practices and disciplines. This local ecology of practices was investigated in a posthumanist intervention research project that was theoretically and methodologically informed by Stengers, Donna Haraway and Anna L. Tsing. In three stories constructed by the preschool children’s and the researcher’s collectively produced data – digital films and photographs, notes and drawings – attention is drawn to the hydrosocial, hierarchies and values in a local ecology of practices. The stories emphasise the contemporary and significant topic of water and wastewater in everyday preschool practices and activities and the processes through which water and society make and remake each other. In conclusion, the article suggests that the creation of relational practices and collaborations between different parts of society could make other questions possible and alternative methods conceivable.

‘Can you teach me a little Urdu?’ Educators navigating linguistic diversity in pedagogic practice in Swedish preschools

According to the national framing of the Swedish preschool system, educators are expected to act as mediators of the dominant language while simultaneously promoting multilingualism. Previous research shows that educators display an insecurity as well as a lack of knowledge of how to implement this dual undertaking. This article examines educators’ dual undertaking of linguistic diversity (changeability), on the one hand, and a national standard (stability) on the other, based on ethnographic data from three preschools with socioeconomic differences. The data are analysed employing concepts from pedagogic theory and linguistic diversity. Bernstein’s competence model with weak classification and framing accommodates translanguaging, giving room for the children’s own linguistic initiatives. Translanguaging is understood from a local as well as a global perspective; the local is based on global norms and global norms relate to local practices. The results show that educators support children as linguistic and multilingual beings. Unlike previous studies showing that middle-class children benefit from the competence model, this study shows how children with different socio-economic backgrounds benefit from the competence model. The diversity of language practice in Swedish pre-schools has the potential to create opportunities for new forms of agency and identity for children.

Global Trends in Preschool Literacy (PL) Based on Bibliometric Analysis: Progress and Prospects

Preschool literacy (PL) is a critical period in the development of children’s literacy skills, which has a significant impact on their reading ability and academic achievement. In this context, there is a fragmentation of knowledge as PL involves different disciplines such as education, psychology, and linguistics. This is despite the existence of a large body of literature on PL. However, many studies focus on specific topics, which makes it difficult for researchers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current status, research hotspots, and trends in PL research, leaving a knowledge gap. Therefore, this study adopts a quantitative research approach for the literature data between 1992 and 2022 for a period of thirty years. This study used arithmetic in Microsoft Excel and bibliometric visualization tools, including VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. The aim was to analyze the current situation, trends, and future development of literacy at the preschool level, providing a scientific basis for preschool practice and policy development. An analysis was performed on 1208 screened documents from the Scopus database in Excel, resulting in the identification of annual publication trends, the 20 most cited documents, the 15 most productive authors, the top 10 institutions, and the 20 countries with the highest number of publications. Visual collaborative networks and co-occurrence analysis maps via VOSviewer and Bibliometrix were also conducted. The study found that the number of research papers published on PL has shown a steadily increasing trend, that the United States is a pioneer in the field of preschool literacy and is increasingly collaborating and researching with other countries, and that international connections are growing between publications and authors. Furthermore, preschool institutions, teachers, and families have positive attitudes towards preschool literacy, as reflected in theoretical research, teaching practice, and sustainable knowledge construction. Meanwhile, the findings of this study also revealed that new PL research has been extended to emerging literacy skills, family-based literacy models, and literacy intervention models. Future researchers can benefit from this study by increasing collaborative research that can sustainably add to the body of knowledge and improving the sustainability of PL.

Language policies and multilingual practices in Icelandic preschools

ABSTRACT This article aims at exploring family language policies and practices of immigrant families in Iceland as well as educational practices and partnerships in their children’s preschools. The article draws on interviews with preschool principals and teachers in three preschools in Iceland, and presents findings related to state, municipal, and school language policies as well as multilingual practices in these preschools. The findings indicate that despite the generally positive attitudes and interest in multilingual practices among preschool personnel, there is room for improvement in terms of more structured and systematic integration of the diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of families, as well as fostering stronger partnerships with parents from different linguistic and cultural communities. Furthermore, teacher education should include both theoretical and practical knowledge of multicultural and multilingual education to better equip teachers for cultural and linguistic diversity in schools.

Early Childhood Care and Education in The 21st Century: A Review of the Literature

Pre-school prepares children with the requisite skills and competencies necessary for formal education. It provides parents with productive time for their work while their children are being cared for in kindergartens, day-care centers, crèches, and pre-schools where children are provided opportunities for stimulation and holistic development using play-based activities. Enhancing the quality of Early Childhood Care and Education has been expressed through research and policy initiatives, development programmes, advocacy, theories, and philosophies that underpin practice in pre-schools. A qualitative approach was employed to look at views related to Early Childhood Care and Education. The purposive sampling method was adopted for the study. The findings however suggest that children in general exhibit relatively different cognitive and social competencies in varied environments. Data collected and analyzed concluded that there was a significant disparity in the experiences of the children, teacher expertise and experience, and academic and play facilities coupled with differences in the social and economic backgrounds of children. It is recommended that further research be conducted in other pre-schools to verify the findings of this research.

Everyday nationalism in Swedish preschools: something old, something new and something borrowed

ABSTRACT This paper explores everyday nationalism in relation to work with traditions in Swedish preschools, as well as how preschool teachers reflect on these practices. One of the tasks of the Swedish preschools is to transmit and develop a cultural heritage. In Sweden, 95% of children aged 3–5 attend preschool. Approximately one fourth have a foreign background. Moreover, preschool children encounter very different cultural realities depending on where their preschool is located. Sweden is a secular as well as multi-religious country. This makes the cultural heritage that the preschools are supposed to transmit ambiguous and complex. Based on a survey where preschool practitioners answered questions about what traditions they pay attention to and what content they fill these traditions with, the article maps which traditions preschool practitioners actualize in their preschool practices. The data is analyzed and discussed in relation to everyday nationalism and the pedagogy of nation. The results show that the everyday nationalism of Swedish preschools both consolidates and challenges the traditions generally considered as being rooted in Swedish history. At the same time, many preschools integrate new traditions into their repertoire that represent societal changes, both in terms of cultural globalization and in terms of the traditions of religious minorities gaining greater visibility.

Managing newly arrived children's double transition: Towards inclusionary practices in rural Swedish preschools

This study examines preschool practitioners’ accounts of managing newly arrived children's double transition into rural preschools with little previous experience of migration. The narratives are analysed through Bakhtin's theory of dialogism. The analysis reveals that the practitioners at first found the migrant children's double transition troublesome and challenging. Eventually, they started to reflect critically on their own culturally endorsed beliefs and practices, and took a dialogical approach that helped them to adjust their practices to the needs of the newly arrived children. The results show that in order to support the inclusion of the migrant children, the practitioners themselves had to go through a process that included a change of mindset and a change of practice. Hence, to manage the children's double transition, the practitioners needed to make a dual adjustment.

Elements of the Transformation of Preschool Curriculum and Educational Practices

The development of a curriculum poses a challenge for theoreticians, practitioners and educational policy makers. The official curriculum of a country represents the guidelines that should serve as the basis on which practices are developed in educational institutions. However, every institution modifies and applies the curriculum differently. The level of a practitioner’s professional development, as well as the culture of the educational institution in question profoundly influence the manner in which the curriculum is evolving in a particular educational institution. For that reason, it is especially important to facilitate access to systematic and high-quality professional development for preschool teachers, so that they are capable of developing the curriculum in line with the challenges of our time and contemporary scientific findings on early childhood education and care. The practice of many preschool teachers in Croatia reflects an outdated understanding of educational work involving children, and the official curriculum does not have much of an impact on that fact. Despite the fact that the practices of individual preschool teachers, even within the same institution, can differ significantly, there are certain shared traditionalisms that represent a burden for practice in Croatian preschools, and that are not easily removed. In order to gradually remove them, i.e., replace them with more contemporary methods of educating children, it is necessary to first become aware of them, as it is precisely the lack of awareness that such traditionalisms exist that causes them to remain a part of the practice.

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STEAM education for children has become a trend in early childhood education in recent years. It is an interdisciplinary approach to education that makes learning practical and relevant to children's daily lives. Using the survey questionnaire, the subjects were 25 teachers participating in the STEAM education project training at a preschool in Hanoi, combined with the semi-structured interview method, the research results showed the awareness of STEAM education, on the organization of the STEAM education project of teachers, there were significant changes after the training. Teachers' confidence in their ability to implement STEAM educational projects is also increased. However, they also found it difficult to prepare materials to organize projects for children, difficult to evaluate children in STEAM educational projects. The article also proposes a suitable training model for preschool teachers from theory to practice in today's preschools.

ECE as an educative and multifaceted practice for growth: to assess and evaluate teaching and learning by documenting children’s actions and re-actions

ABSTRACT Preschool teachers in Sweden are expected to document children’s learning and assess their learning outcomes, for the purpose of long-term evaluation and to develop the educational preschool practice. Previous research shows that the tools for documenting individual learning are particularly focusing on children’s cognitive knowledge, while the tools for evaluating the preschool practice are developed for standardized assessment and teachers’ self-reflection. The purpose of this study is to present and illustrate an action-based tool that (i) facilitates documentation and assessment of children’s multifaceted learning and (ii) combine and interweave individual learning with situated teaching approaches and evaluation of the preschool practice at institutional level. The action-based methodological framework takes a starting point in John Dewey’s pragmatism, transactions and functions of education including qualification, socialization and person-formation. Two analytical approaches; Practical Epistemology Analysis (PEA) and Epistemological Move Analysis (EMA) are used to clarify and illustrate individual, social and institutional dimensions of learning from four sequences of one preschool activity including four children and one teacher talking about a fairy tale. We argue that this tool for assessment and evaluation facilitates action-based reflection and discussion about relations between children’s individual learning and institutional norms and values.

A systems perspective on early childhood development education in South Africa

South Africa’s basic education system is dysfunctional. It scores last or close to last in a myriad of metrics and delivers learners with some of the worst literacy and numeracy competencies worldwide. A bimodal distribution in the results exists when learners from the richest socioeconomic quintile are performing adequately well, while learners from the poorest quintiles are failing. This paper presents a system dynamics simulation model to describe the causal linkages between improved early childhood and pre-school learning practices on the education system as a whole. The paper investigates the difference in performance between rich and poor communities. Three interventions explore the research question of whether it is the number of enrolments into early childhood development programs that increases a cohort’s school readiness, or rather the quality of the early childhood development programs into which they were enrolled. The results answer the research question for the Western Cape province by showing that increasing the quality of the formal ECD programs leads to a greater percentage of school-ready five year olds than increasing the percentage of enrolled children, but that decreasing community poverty leads to better results than either intervention. The results show the simulation model to be a powerful tool to assist with policy setting and intervention testing for any other province or country by simply changing the input data and calibration.