"Prova och prova igen": Professionellt lärande och agens när förskollärare utforskar digitalisering och lek i undervisningen

The study investigates how kindergarten teachers work with digitalisation and play in an action research project. The aim is to describe and analyse the teacher’s active role in joint professional learning and when performing their teaching duties. The research questions are:

1. What types of conditions and agency are expressed in kindergarten teachers’ experiences of teaching as they explore how digitalisation and play can be combined?
2. What experiences do kindergarten teachers express when developing teaching that involves digitalisation and play in relation to their educational duties?
3. How can kindergarten teachers’ professional learning be understood within the framework of an action research project?

The study shows that kindergarten teachers’ experiences of digitalisation and play can be effectively combined, without having to choose between digital and analogue methods. Their expertise is crucial for using digitalisation to promote play and learning. In order to achieve that, they should explore different approaches, reflect on their experiences and collaborate with others. The study highlights how kindergarten teachers’ experiences, expertise, values and agency influence teaching, and that the action research project has helped to develop these aspects. Although the teachers had great freedom in their teaching, they rarely challenged the external frameworks that influence the opportunities to combine digitalisation and play.

The data were collected through 19 group conversations from action research meetings and weekly planning meetings that were audio recorded. In addition, the data included individual reflections from the teachers written on three occasions, where they reflected on play, digitalisation, expectations, project development, challenges and aha moments. The sample consisted of five kindergarten teachers from two departments in the same Swedish kindergarten. Two teachers worked with children aged one to three years old, while three others worked with children aged three to five years old.

Grape, M. (2023). " Prova och prova igen": Professionellt lärande och agens när förskollärare utforskar digitalisering och lek i undervisningen [Doktorgradsavhandling] Luleå tekniska universitet.