Leg som læring, udvikling og dannelse – En policy-antropologisk undersøgelse af legens betydning i dansk dagtilbuds-policy.

The study explores how ‘play’ is defined in the Danish Day Care Act and curriculum. The purpose is to understand what role play has with regard to well-being, learning, development and formation, and how this affects the perception of children, educators and parents. The research question is: What meanings of play can be observed in Danish policy documents related to the revised Day Care Act and curriculum, and how do these meanings position the child, the educator and the parents?

Three main discourses were identified: learning play, developmental play, and formation play. In the learning play discourse, play is seen as a pedagogical approach where learning is playful. In the developmental play discourse, play is fundamental for children's development of skills such as language and interaction. In the formation play discourse, play is based on a democratic ideal and children's rights. The study shows that the learning play discourse dominates in the documents examined, which may shift the traditional Nordic understanding of play.

The data material consists of five key policy documents, chosen to track the democratic decision-making process. Using a policy-anthropological approach combined with a critical discourse analysis, the researchers analyse key documents related to the Danish political process on the revision of the Day Care Act and regulations relating to the pedagogical curriculum from the period 2016-2018.

Schmidt, C. H. & Slott, M. (2021). "Leg som læring, udvikling og dannelse – En policy-antropologisk undersøgelse af legens betydning i dansk dagtilbuds-policy". Barn – forskning om barn og barndom i Norden, 39(2-3).