Vägen till jämställdhet - Kvinnor i styrelserum eller män i förskolan? : En kritisk analys av den svenska jämställdhetsdiskursen

Equality between the sexes has been discussed in Sweden for more than 50 years. In the 60´s and during the 70´s the discourse that dominated the debate was based on the assumption that both men and women needed to liberate themselves from their traditional gender roles. In this approach information and education was perceived as the key to equality. During the 80´s however, power and subordination became the main focal point of concern within this debate, and focus upon changing the patriarchal power structures dominating society were perceived as the principal key for establishing equality between the sexes. Today, the latter discourse still dominates both the scientific and the political perspective upon equality. By examining the debate on equality from two different fields of occupation this paper tries to analyse the fact that the Swedish equality discourse looks very different on male - versus female domination. Although the proportion of male teachers in Swedish preschools is about 3 % and the amount of women serving as public company directors is about 20 %, the current discourse views male dominance within the business sector as problematic, whilst, the dominance of women in the preschool childcare sector as less problematic. In respect of the theory supported by Bourdieu (1999), Hirdman (1990 & 2003) and Foucault (1998 & 2002) this paper advocates that the discourse is biased and simplified and that a perspective that only focuses on areas of male domination sets the wrong priorities. With regards to equality ideals prevalent throughout Norway this paper concludes that the Swedish equality discourse needs a broader and more open approach to assure that Swedish institutions promote equality between men and women in the best possible way.

- Ni får gärna hoppa på golvet om ni vill hoppa : En studie om pedagogers bemötande av barns egna initativ i förskola och förskoleklass

The purpose of this survey was to discern possible similarities and difference between how teachers in preschool and pre-class respond to children’s own initiative out of a power perspective. The results of this study is collect by observations that we have done in free and planned activity in both preschool and pre-class as well as a few interviews with some of the teachers. The results have shown that teacher’s responses to children’s own initiatives in preschool and pre-class to most part is similar, despite the difference in their commission. The biggest differences are that teachers in preschool prioritize children’s care before allowing the children to pursue their own initiatives, which haven’t emerged from the observations in the pre-class. Another difference is that the teachers in pre-class are more flexible during the planned activities and utilize the children’s own initiatives.

"Amningen känns så skör på ett annat vis" : Hur kvinnor som ammar förskolebarn upplever bemötandet av förskolans pedagoger.

The aim of this study was to visualize in a pluralistic perspective how mothers of breastfed preschool children experience being treated by preschool teachers. Method: Qualitative interviews with 10 mothers and qualitative content analysis. The mothers experienced breastfeeding was surrounded by slience at preschool. The mothers were met with silence, felt vulnerable and did not want to be subject to criticizm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation on this subject. 

Naturvetenskapliga begrepp i vardagliga samtal : En observationsstudie med fokus på lärande samtal i förskolan

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur vardagliga situationer kan nyttjas för naturvetenskapligt lärande i förskolan. Den har genomförts med hjälp av observationer av samtal. Det observerade naturvetenskapliga innehållet har genererat en ”lokal teori”, (Grounded Theory), med fokus på använda ord och omnämnda begrepp. Resultatet visar att barnen har en uppfattning om flera naturvetenskapliga begrepp och generellt ett rikt ordförråd för samtal om naturvetenskapliga fenomen. Vissa begrepp har barnen till synes en lägre grad av förståelse för och vissa begrepp är de väl bekanta med men har inget specifikt ord för. Det finns också olika sätt att förklara naturvetenskapliga fakta, vilka inte alltid motsvarar frågeställarens, barnets och/eller pedagogens, förväntningar. De huvud­sakliga slutsatser som har dragits är följande: även om ett barns ordförråd för att beskriva naturvetenskapliga fenomen är rikt ger det inte automatiskt en god begreppsbildning, det informella samtalet är en viktig resurs i barnens lärande samt att det är viktigt att använda rätt förklaringsmodell vid varje tillfälle.

Fotografers och föräldrars attityder kring skönhetsretuschering i skolfotografier : En semistrukturerad intervjustudie

Through semi-structured interviews with 8 school photographers and 10 parents,this study attempted to clarify what photographers and parents of children(aged 1–5) in preschool think of photography business in the current situationprovides retouching children’s school photographs and what they considers tobe acceptable. The result shows that companies do not offer photo retouchingfrequent, but performs this service at the direct request of the customer. Themajority of parents agreed that dirt and food was accepted to be removed fromthe photograph, and that this does not affect the child's self image. The photographersbelieve that one should be very careful when it comes to children andretouching, and that the debate is important.

Vad händer med dialogen? : En studie av dialogisk interaktion mellan pedagog och barn i förskolan

The overall purpose of this study is to gain knowledge about dialogues in the setting of the preschool. The more in-depth purpose is to highlight what happens in dialogues between a teacher and a child when more children join the situation of interaction in which the dialogue is taking place. A further purpose is to attempt to understand what it is that influences change in the dialogue and what significance the actions of the teacher can have for this change. The study is based on several questions that concern interaction in preschools, who it is that initiates an increase in the number of participants in those situations that involve dialogue, and what happens with the dialogue when more children join and what causes the change in the dialogue. The study is based on video observations from a preschool; approximately 10 teachers and 50 children between the ages of one and six took part in the study. The situations that were observed and documented in video format were everyday activities (both indoor and outdoor) that were led at a nominal level by teachers. In total, 40 films were recorded. Film length was between one and 60 minutes. In 32 of the films, there was interaction between a teacher and several children, and 18 of these included dialogues between a teacher and several children. Dialogue is here given a specific significance and refers to the interaction that can be described in terms of presence, listening, reciprocity, and extending. This definition of dialogue derives from a combination of Martin Buber’s philosophy of dialogue and aspects of interaction that earlier research found to be significant for children’s learning. In two of the 18 films that showed dialogue, no other children became part of the situation of interaction; the remaining 16 films were transcribed; and both verbal and non-verbal events were made apparent in the transcriptions. Analyses of the recorded material and of the transcriptions were conducted using analytical terms borrowed from conversation analysis as well as the central term for this study dialogue.  The results demonstrate a complex practice and also demonstrate that dialogues in the sense given in this study take place between children and teachers. Situations of interaction also occur where dialogues take place in which a number of children join. It can be the child joining the situation of interaction who takes the initiative to an increased number of participants; however, it can also be the teacher or the child in the dialogue. The initial address can take place during a moment of transition in the interaction or at the same time as another participant is talking. The dialogue often changes when more children join the situation where the dialogue is taking place. The dialogue can end completely or be interrupted and resume. The results further demonstrate that the dialogue can continue without seemingly being affected by the fact that more children join. This happens when the child joining and the teacher in the dialogue interact in a non-verbal manner at the same time as the teacher is talking with the child in the dialogue. The dialogue can also be continued with more participants. Who takes the initiative, how the initial address occurs, and which content is given focus by the different participants are all factors that seem to affect what happens to the dialogue. How the teacher acts when more children join also appears to be significant in terms of what happens with the dialogue when more children join. In those situations where the teacher begins talking with a number of children about different subjects, the interaction ceases to be dialogic. When the teacher asks the joining child to wait, the dialogue is both interrupted and resumed, and on those occasions when the dialogue continues with more participants, the teacher listens to the joining child and the participants take turns speaking.

Pedagoger i det sociala uppdragets gränstrakter : Att hantera familjerättsliga processer, hot och våld

Pedagogues in the borderland of their social task: dealing with family law proceedings, threats and violence Drawing upon an explorative study of family law proceedings from a school perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine the school staff’s strategies for solving or coping with problematic situations in this context. Gendered conflicts between adults and violence are extreme cases for pedagogues in school and preschool. How do the staff cope with their own and the children’s vulnerability? Based upon interviews with 22 informants, the staff’s strategies are outlined and discussed in relation to organizational and professional circumstances and intersecting social relations of power. An analytical construction of six types of proactive and reactive strategies, ranging from distance keeping to normalization of own exposure, is utilized in the analysis. Findings suggest that the staff’s strategies to handle challenging events in this context vary with the parent’s gender, class position and ethnicity. Further, it is argued that creating a sense of safety and promoting learning among the children may be obstructed by lack of support from the school’s organization, demands on staff to perform customer oriented attitudes towards parents and lack of clarity concerning the limits of the social task. Conflicts between the organization and profession on the one hand and the educational and the social task on the other hand, are thus illuminated. In conclusion, a further aim of this article is to contribute to broader discussions on men’s violence against women and children – in families as well as in workplaces and in the intersection between these two areas. 

Dokumentationens dilemman : Förskollärare samtalar om pedagogisk dokumentation

Abstract  Pedagogical documentation is a certain procedure for documenting that, in recent years, has been embraced in several Swedish preschools. Teachers document children’s actions and conversations usually by photos or video recordings. This documentation is to be used for a pedagogical purpose. However, studies and governmental inspections have shown that pedagogical documentation gives rise to many questions among preschool teachers. The purpose of this study is to gain insight into what is being expressed when preschool teachers discuss pedagogical documentation, focusing on themes of content and on the participants’ expressions of their points of view. The data is comprised of transcriptions from audio recordings of discussions conducted in a research circle. The participants are eight preschool teachers that met over the course of one year. Each meeting focused on the documentation provided by a different participant. In that way the contents of the discussions were framed by the teachers own questions and narratives. Theoretically, the study departs from Social Constructionism and Discursive Psychology. The preschool teachers’ utterances have been analyzed using concepts of interpretative repertoires and ideological dilemmas. The results show the main themes to be: Knowledge content in a preschool setting, children’s learning, the teacher’s role and implementation of pedagogical documentation. The participants’ joint position is that the knowledge content at the preschool level is defined by the curriculum for the preschool. Concerning children’s learning and the teacher’s role, two main standpoints are disclosed. Ideologically those standpoints derive from two opposing theories of education. Based on how the standpoints have been expressed I have called them ”predetermined learning” versus ”non-predetermined learning”. One main distinction between the standpoints is that predetermined learning emphasizes the results of learning, while non-predetermined learning emphasizes the processes of learning. The participants’ utterances show that teachers tend to subscribe to the idea that there is only one acceptable way of working with pedagogical documentation. This sometimes creates performance anxiety and feelings of not succeeding and has led to arguments advocating an alternate approach; pedagogical documentation can be done in many ways. The ideological dilemmas within the discourse can be perceived as resources by which the participants argue about knowledge, learning, teaching and about the implementation of pedagogical documentation.

Teknik på förskolan : Hur pedagoger uppfattar och ser på teknik i förskolan

Syftet med uppgiften är att få kunskap om hur pedagoger uppfattar och ser på teknik i förskolan. För att undersöka detta har jag formulerat följande övergripande frågeställningar: Hur resonerar, uppfattar och ser pedagoger på begreppet teknik?, samt Hur arbetar pedagogerna med teknik i förskolan? Som metod har jag valt semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer som tolkas utifrån fenomenologisk teori och sex pedagoger vid sex olika verksamheter i en kommun har intervjuats. Pedagogerna i studien ser teknikämnet som något positivt och tycker det är kul, men framför att många i deras arbetslag finner en viss rädsla för ämnet. Teknik behöver inte vara svårt och går att fånga i vardagen på förskolan, men det svåra är att medvetandegöra för barnen att de arbetar med teknik. Av studiens resultat framkommer att teknik på förskolorna framför allt är bygg- och konstruktion med olika strukturerade och ostrukturerade material, och att aktiviteter sker främst spontant och äger rum året runt både inomhus och utomhus.

En kvalitativ studie om hur förskollärare beskriver pedagogisk dokumentation som arbetssätt

Samtliga respondenter beskriver pedagogisk dokumentation som en möjlighet att få syn på barnens intressen och för att förbättra och vidareutveckla verksamheten. Pedagogisk dokumentation ses som en process som både vuxna och barn kan delta i. I denna process an-vänds dokumentationsmaterialet för reflektion och analys. Arbetssättet beskrivs även som en hjälp för pedagogerna att se sin egen roll i de pedagogiska processerna. Utvecklingssamtal, föräldramöten och var-dagliga samtal, exempelvis vid lämning och hämtning av barnen, upp-levs som bra tillfällen för att använda pedagogisk dokumentation. Det största hindret som förskollärarna beskriver är tidsbrist. Det kan ex-empelvis vara svårt att hinna ta hand om dokumentationsmaterialet och att avsätta tid för reflektion. En annan aspekt som framkommer är att det kan upplevas som svårt att arbeta med pedagogisk dokumenta-tion som en process där barnen är i centrum, samtidigt som det finns tydliga mål att följa, uppsatta med utgångspunkt från förskolans läro-plan. Förskollärarna är positiva till pedagogisk dokumentation som arbets-sätt. Erfarenhet av yrket poängteras som en fördel för att hinna med att dokumentera och se varje barns utveckling och lärande.

Pedagogisk dokumentation i förskolan : En intervjustudie om några förskollärares uppfattningar om begreppet pedagogisk dokumentation och dess innebörd

I dagens förskoleverksamhet är det i regel ett måste att dokumentera lärandeprocesser för att kunna uppfylla samtliga mål i utbildningsplaner och bistå med god utbildningskvalitet. Pedagogisk dokumentation – som grundades av Reggio Emilia – är ett utvärderingsverktyg som skall observera barnets lärandeprocesser samt förskollärarnas förhållningssätt. I vardagliga situationer i förskoleverksamheten har pedagogisk dokumentation många fördelar som kan kartlägga och ge bra förutsättningar genom att skapa förståelse för hur barn lär sig och utvecklas bäst. Syftet med denna studie var att genomföra en litteraturstudie i kombination med kvalitativa intervjuer som utgick ifrån följande frågeställningar: Hur definierar förskollärare begreppet dokumentation respektive pedagogisk dokumentation? Hur beskriver förskollärare arbetet med pedagogisk dokumentation? Och hur menar förskollärare att arbetet med pedagogisk dokumentation utvecklar verksamheten? Intervjuerna transkriberades och kategoriserades sedan kring hur förskollärarna använder pedagogisk dokumentation, hur synen på pedagogisk dokumentation ser ut samt vilka olika arbetssätt som används. Vid färdigställande av resultatet framgick det att tre av fyra respondenter upplevde pedagogisk dokumentation som något positivt och modernt. En respondent av fyra fann inte pedagogisk dokumentation som ett bra hjälpmedel för utvärdering, då verktyget kan vara oetiskt på så sätt att det kan användas som ett bedömningsverktyg på det enskilda barnet. Diskussionsavsnittet kopplar samman tidigare forskning med förskollärarnas svar kring hur de ser på pedagogisk dokumentation, hur de beskriver arbetet med pedagogisk dokumentation och hur arbetssättet kan utveckla verksamheten.