To Örebro University

Syftet med artikeln är att bidra till kunskapandet om pedagogisk dokumentation med specifikt fokus på dokumentationens betydelse ur ett demokratiperspektiv. Trots många studier kring pedagogisk dokumentation finns det få studier som explicit utgår ifrån barn och vårdnadshavares perspektiv. I artikeln analyseras barns och vårdnadshavares samtal utifrån minnesbilder, vilka framträder i fokusgruppssamtal, från förskoletiden i relation till pedagogiskt dokumentationsarbete. Resultatet visar att den pedagogiska dokumentationspraktiken bidrog till skapandet av en praktikgemenskap på förskolan vilket i sin tur möjliggjorde en demokratisk undervisning.

The purpose of the article is to contribute with knowledge of pedagogical documentation with a particular focus on the importance of documentation from a democracy perspective. While there are many studies of pedagogical documentation, few studies explicit examine this practice from the perspective of children and guardians. Analyses, based on focus group data of children ́s and guardian ́s conversations from memories of the children ́s time spent in preschool in relation to educational documentation work, are presented. Pedagogical documentation practice is shown to contribute to the creation of a community of practice at the preschool, which in turn enabled democratic education.

Förskolan i Sverige har blivit en del av skolväsendet och begrepp från skolans värld överförs till och ska gälla även för förskolan, däribland undervisning och utbildning. Undervisning definieras i skollagen som målstyrda och lärarledda processer. Vi vill med artikeln bidra till kunskapandet om hur undervisning i förskolan kan förstås. Med begreppen iscensättning och målrelationella- kontra målrationella lärandeprocesser analyserar vi delar av ett årslångt utforskande- och lekprojekt i en förskola. Baserat på analysen argumenterar vi för en målrelationell ansats för att tänka kring och arrangera för målstyrda processer i förskolan.

Since 1998, preschool provision in Sweden has been supervised through the Ministry of Edu-cation. Since then, concepts from compulsory schooling have been formally incorporated in this provision. Teaching, is a particularly striking example, as it is currently applied to pre-school based on the definition in the Swedish school law: “teacher-led, goal-oriented pro-cesses.” This paper contributes knowledge concerning how teaching in preschool can be un-derstood. Drawing on the concepts of staging, and goal-relational versus goal-rational pro-cesses, we present analyses of preschool activities documented as part of a year-long project focused on children’s socio-dramatic play and exploration. We argue for a goal-relational ap-proach to thinking about and arranging for goal-directed processes in preschool.

In this article we critically examine and problematizethe concept of teaching in contemporary Swedish preschoolprovision, and sketch a holistic preschool didactics aimed at addressingkey problems that emerge from the implementation of the concept ofteaching in preschool. We briefly survey how teaching is conceptualizedand managed from different theoretical perspectives and institutionaldiscourses. Drawing on cultural historical activity theory and situatedlearning approaches, we argue for the formation of a preschool didacticsbased on a socio-cultural understanding of play in combination with aReggio Emilia-inspired understanding of exploratory and project-basedwork methods.

The goal of this chapter is to respond to the scarcity of literature on creativity that is relevant both to CHAT and in the field of education. The authors explore Vygotsky's writings on creativity, imagination, art, and play in relation to three Swedish preschool projects that practice a pedagogy of exploratory learning. Also included are discussions of imagination versus realistic thinking, syncretism in children's creative work, and play as a creative activity. Because this study was a formative intervention, the pedagogy of exploratory learning became significant in the analysis. The bulk of the chapter consists of thick descriptions of the projects and discussion of aspects of creativity as they appear in the projects. The data was collected by teachers and a research team that consisted of the authors of this chapter. Data collection in the three projects took place before the intervention took place, during the initial phases of the intervention, and after the intervention had become an annual theme for the preschools. The research was initially guided solely by a cultural historical understanding of creativity, while the analysis brought CHAT into dialogue with postmodern writings that are related to exploratory learning.

We introduce ‘Preschools Didactics From Within’ (PDFW), a novel approach to preschool-based research. This approach focuses on the design of research projects that (a) specifically address issues faced by preschool teachers and children and (b) create opportunities for teachers and children to contribute their expertise by mutually occasioning self-reflection among teachers, children and researchers. Conquergood (2002) calls for the development of research models that “bridge segregated and differently valued knowledges” and bring together “legitimated as well as subjugated modes of inquiry,” (p.151-152). PDFW is one such model. Specifically, PDFW is a kind of formative intervention organized around principles of cultural historical activity theory (Engeström, 2008). Data include field notes, audio and video recordings, interviews and artwork that were collected by researchers, teacher and students. Informed consent was obtained from teachers, parents and guardians. Our analyses show that teachers and children who participate in PDFW construct novel solutions and concepts that can be used in other instances as tools for the development of locally appropriate pedagogical adaptations. The practice of pedagogical documentation is key to understanding the rich, dynamic processes underlying the development of these concepts ''from within". 'Preschool Didactics From Within' has wide implications for research design - not just in preschool didactics - that is rigorous, democratic and that promotes a collaborative ethic among research participants (researchers included) that positively transforms both partner organisations (preschools in this case) and the academy. 

This presentation outlines a preschool didactic of exploration focused on designing aesthetically-oriented learning environments in which teachers and children dialogically explore themes based on children’s interests. The work expands on recent research on pre-K teaching practices that combine performance art and drama pedagogies, Nordbø (2012); Haugen et al (2006). In this project we apply a performance studies framework, Johansson (2012) to analysis of data from an ongoing qualitative study of one-year old preschoolers. Our claims are based on video and interview data collected in a preschool over a period of four months. Informed consent was obtained from teachers, parents and guardians. We describe how the teachers create “installations” that occasion children’s aesthetic exploration, and argue that the communication that subsequently unfolds between children and teachers promotes their development as culture and knowledge creators, Dahlberg & Lenz Taguchi (1994). These installations form a kind of metaphorical dance: The teacher and children mutually lead one another in remediating the installations in ways that leverage repetition. This enables the children to explore differences and similarities among different iterations of these installations over time. Critical to this process is the practice of pedagogical documentation which teachers use to longitudinally chronicle and narrativise children's experiences of the changing installations. We show how children use their bodies to explore the environment, and how teachers correspondingly adapt these environments in ways that challenge the form and content of prior installations. These observations provide a general framework for practitioners interested in designing and implementing aesthetically oriented preschool activities.