Queen Maud University College

Despite religion having a clear place in the Norwegian Framework Plan for Kindergartens, addressing religion in practice often appears to be challenging. This article examines how kindergarten staff understand and approach religion, and which discourses contribute to shaping this practice. The study is based on conversations conducted at the outset of an action research project in two kindergartens. The analysis identifies three categories: religion as private, religion as a sensitive topic, and limited self-efficacy when working with religion. These categories are used to discuss staff approaches to religion. The study is theoretically grounded in Foucault’s concepts of power and discourse and, through an abductive approach, develops the privatization of religion and religion as a challenge as analytical perspectives, understood as discourses in a Foucauldian sense.

Barnehagelærerutdanning er en profesjonsutdanning hvor praksis i barnehagen er pålagt. I tillegg til ordinær praksis har noen studenter gjennomført barnehageovertakelse hvor de har tatt over en avdeling i en barnehage i en uke. Studentenes læringsutbytte av overtakelse er tema i denne studien, der 79 studenter svarte på en spørreundersøkelse i etterkant. Læringsutbyttet vurderes som høyt, og studenter som har hatt praksis i barnehagene som blir tatt over, har høyere læringsutbytte enn de som har hatt ordinær praksis i andre barnehager. Gjennom barnehageovertakelse får studentene en dypere forståelse for profesjonen hvor de utvikler sin profesjonsidentitet.

Barns trivsel beskrives å være kjernen av formålet i barnehagen. I denne artikkelen utforsker jeg barnehagelæreres forståelser av begrepet trivsel. Hensikten er å bidra til samtalen om barns trivsel i en norsk barnehagekontekst gjennom å diskutere, nyansere og utvide innsikter omkring trivselsbegrepet. Det empiriske grunnlaget bygger på tre fokusgruppesamtaler med totalt 14 barnehagelærere. Gjennom tematisk analyse finner jeg at barnehagelærerne forstår begrepet trivsel som både mangfoldig og komplekst. Det mangfoldige perspektivet handler om at barnehagelærerne beskriver barns trivsel med et bredt spekter andre følelser, uttrykk og begreper, som alle henger tett sammen. Det komplekse perspektivet nyanserer innholdet i det mangfoldige, og handler om at trivselsbegrepet er karakterisert av en rekke motsetninger og spenninger som både er sameksisterende og produktive. Kompleksiteten trer særlig fram når samtalene får tid til å utvikle seg og tydeliggjør at barns trivsel forstås som langt mer enn positive idealer og enkle kjennetegn. English abstract Let’s Talk About Children’s Well-Being in ECEC Children’s well-being is described as the core purpose of ECEC. In this article, I explore ECEC teachers’ understandings of the concept well-being. The purpose is to contribute to the conversation about children’s well-being in a Norwegian ECEC context by discussing, refining, and expanding on the concept of well-being. The empirical basis is based on three focus group conversations with a total of 14 teachers. Through thematic analysis, I find that the teachers understand the concept of well-being as both diverse and complex. The diverse perspective is about the fact that the teachers describe children’s well-being with a wide range of other feelings, expressions, and concepts, all of which are closely linked. The complex perspective nuances the content of the diversity and focuses on the fact that the concept of well-being is characterized by several contradictions and tensions that are both coexisting and productive. The complexity particularly emerges when the conversations are given time to develop and make it clear that children’s well-being is understood as far more than positive ideals and simple characteristics.

Documentation is an increasingly central part of all societal activities. In early childhood education and care (ECEC), documentation and record keeping are used to secure children’s well-being, participation and rights. Although documentation is a much-studied topic, the conceptual understanding of this phenomenon, which is intertwined in the lives of all children in many ways, remains thin. In this study, we applied the metanarrative review protocol to the analysis of the definitions given to the documentation of previous studies (N = 124). As a result, we summarised the conceptual approaches of ECEC documentation into four narratives that describe documentation as (1) a meaning-making process, (2) a practice of professional reflection, (3) an outcome-focused solution and (4) a complex and problematic phenomenon. The overarching definition of documentation calls for acknowledging the interpretability and consequentiality of the phenomenon and the danger of a simplistic idealisation of its benefits.

Denne artikkelen tar for seg kritisk realisme som utgangspunkt for forskning som omhandler barn i utdanningsinstitusjonen. Kritisk realisme stiller seg kritisk til samfunnsforskning som ensidig vektlegger barns perspektiver og autonomi uten å ta hensyn til de strukturelle, institusjonelle og samfunnsmessige rammene som påvirker barns hverdag og livsvilkår. I artikkelen diskuterer og argumenterer jeg for nødvendigheten av en helhetlig og kompleks forskningstilnærming til sosialt liv i utdanningsinstitusjonen. Dette gjøres ved å løfte frem den kritiske realismens syn på virkeligheten som stratifisert, herunder forholdet mellom ontologi (det intransitive) og epistemologi (det transitive), kausale mekanismer i åpne og lukkede systemer samt forholdet mellom teori og empiri. Med utgangspunkt i kritisk realisme vil jeg også argumentere for forskerens forpliktelse til å arbeide for sosial endring.

The purpose of this article is to unpack and discuss distributed leadership (DL) as an analytical framework for equal pedagogical co-leadership (EPCL) in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). This is done by employing a theoretical discussion, grounded in national and international research on pedagogical leadership (PL) and distributed leadership (DL). The frame of the analysis and discussion is a James Spillane-inspired illustration of what a leadership practice in DL might look like in a preschool setting. In Norway, preschool is called “barnehage”, which directly translates to kindergarten. The children are aged 1 to 6, and preschool is not mandatory. The preschool usually has a manager, and each class has pedagogical leaders, preschool assistants, and/or children and youth workers as the class team staff. Most of the staff do not have a higher degree in ECEC. The interactions between the pedagogical leaders, the rest of the preschool staff, and the manager of the preschool are essential when discussing the implications for the preschool’s pedagogical practice. The analysis points to challenges and opportunities when using DL as an analytical framework in discussing EPCL in preschool.

ResuméTrøst er et velkendt og centralt greb, som de voksne har i brug i børnehavens dagligliv med børnene, mens det som begreb sjældent er i brug i pædagogikken og slet ikke findes i de myndighedsdokumenter, der regulerer daginstitutionssektoren. Dette tilsyneladende fravær er paradoksalt i betragtning af, hvor strengt den civilisatoriske levemåde påbyder voksne at trøste børn, hvor der er brug for det. Indledningsvis lægger vi de kropssociologiske og handlingsteoretiske præmisser for vores undersøgelse af trøstens praktik frem og redegør for trøstens anledninger, variationer, rytmer og sprog. Det empiriske arbejde bygger på feltobservationer i en norsk børnehave fulgt op af fokusgruppeinterview med dens pædagogiske personale og et gruppeinterview med syv af de ældste børn. Fundene gør opmærksom på betydningen af de kropslige samspil og på den centrale betydning, voksnes kropslige førrefleksive kapaciteter har i og for trøsten. Med opsummeringen om trøstens særlige effektivitet udfordrer vi den pædagogiske forskning og de pædagogiske uddannelser i forhold til, hvordan man anskuer betydningen af de kropslige, emotionelle kapaciteter, som de kommende pædagoger kan have udviklet, allerede inden de begynder på pædagoguddannelsen. ENGLISH ABSTRACT Drive and Dynamics in the Comforting Interplay in the Kindergarten Consolation is a well-known practice that professionals use in the kindergarten’s daily life with the children, but it barely exists as a concept in pedagogy. The importance of comfort and comforting interactions for the children has virtually no attention to research, and no real place either in the pedagogical educations or in the authority documents that regulate the daycare sector. This absence is paradoxical given how strictly the civilizational way of life requires adults to comfort children where needed. Initially, we present the sociological premises of our study of the practice of comfort, where we account for the occasions, variations, rhythms and language of comforting children. The empirical work is based on field observations in a Norwegian kindergarten, followed by a focus group interview with its pedagogical staff, and a group interview with seven of the oldest children. The findings draw attention to the importance of bodily interactions and to how it is the adult’s bodily and pre-reflexive capabilities as an essential professional resource. In continuation of the conclusion, we challenge pedagogical research and professional education on their perception of bodily and emotional capabilities as a basic prerequisite to master educational practice in kindergartens.

As modern yoga continues to be practised and spread all over the world, it is also changing and adapting to local beliefs, practices, and values. Yoga retreats in nature are now a phenomenon in Norway. This article is based on a document study of websites advertising yoga retreats in Norway, exploring how nature is described and presented. The analysis shows that nature is presented as sacred, healing, and valuable. Elements from Sámi spirituality and other religious traditions are drawn on, and nature is marketed as a necessary part of a spiritual package. This can be seen in connection with climate concerns and Bron Taylor’s formulation of the concept of dark green religion. Nature’s utilization in marketing material suggests a Norwegianization of yoga, where yoga is made more Norwegian by connecting it with Norwegian nature, Sámi spirituality, and local traditions. The article argues that we are seeing the emergence of a new pilgrimage practice in Norway as part of the Norwegianization of yoga. Yoga and wellness are paired here with nature experiences and nature spirituality in a local retreat setting.

ABSTRACTOn a daily basis, children make decisions about how to negotiate their physical environment. Sometimes they engage in physical tasks that involve risk, requiring them to judge the safety of how to negotiate the environment safely. Individual differences in children's age, sex, physical size, and personality may impact those decisions. We used fully immersive virtual reality to assess 7–10‐year‐olds' (n = 393; mean age = 8.8 years, SD = 0.8; 50% female) behaviour while stepping across rocks to cross a simulated river. Children's self‐reported thrill and intensity seeking (TIS) personality was also collected. Three outcomes were considered: rocks stepped on, time evaluating the crossing, and time crossing. On average, children used 5 of 7 rocks, spent 7.8 s assessing, and 18.7 s crossing, with substantial individual variations. Taller children crossed using fewer rocks, but this association was subsumed in multivariable models by male gender and higher TIS personality (e.g., β = −5.2 and −2.6, respectively, predicting crossing time). Results have implications for child development theory, injury prevention, playground design, and parenting decisions.