Purpose
The study aims to contribute knowledge about how teaching in kindergarten can be understood in relation to how kindergarten teachers describe teaching. The research questions are: 1) How do kindergarten teachers describe teaching and its importance in kindergarten? 2) What type of didactic questions emerge from the kindergarten teachers’ descriptions of teaching in kindergarten?
Result
The results show that kindergarten teachers in the sample view teaching as an integral part of kindergarten routines, and not as an activity that is separate from play and care. The researcher behind the study believes that kindergarten teachers are developing an understanding of teaching that is adapted to the kindergarten context, and that safeguards both a play-based perspective and a purposeful view of learning.
Design
The study used qualitative data in the form of reflective texts from 50 kindergarten teachers from two municipalities in central Sweden. These texts were collected during a skills development course on kindergarten teaching in 2019. The texts were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The aim of this method was to uncover variations and patterns in participants’ descriptions of what teaching in kindergarten meant to them.
References
Berg, B. (2022). Undervisningsbegreppets innebörd i förskolan utifrån ett läroplansteoretiskt perspektiv. Educare, 3, 75–97.