Purpose
The study investigates how Swedish kindergarten teachers deal with begging as a social phenomenon with their children. The researcher investigates the educational and ethical challenges that arise when a controversial topic such as begging becomes visible in children’s everyday lives. The research questions are:
- What experiences do kindergarten teachers have of encountering begging with groups of children?
- Is begging a topic brought up by children or adults, and in what way?
- What educational and ethical challenges arise in a kindergarten context?
Result
The results show that although begging is part of many children’s everyday lives, kindergarten teachers largely avoid talking about the topic in kindergarten. An important reason is the fear of reinforcing the divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’, as well as uncertainty about power dynamics and how children perceive such topics. Kindergarten teachers experience ethical dilemmas related to perceived demands for neutrality and uncertainty about how parents would react if they brought up a politically charged topic such as begging. The study concludes that begging is often not considered part of kindergarten’s educational mission, even though there is a great interest in discussing such topics.
Design
The data were collected through focus groups involving 18 kindergarten teachers from six Swedish kindergartens. The interviews were conducted in two rounds, where kindergarten teachers discussed their experiences of encountering begging when together with groups of children in public spaces. The data were analysed through a thematic analysis that emphasised social interactions and collective understandings of how begging is dealt with in a kindergarten context.
References
Dolk, K. (2024). Att hantera tiggeri som samhällsfenomen i förskolan: Pedagogiska och etiska svårigheter kring ett känsligt och kontroversiellt ämne. Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige, 29(1–2), 74–96.
Online year: 2023
Issue year: 2024
Review year: 2023