Exploring pedagogues’ understanding and detection of vulnerability in Danish early childhood education and care

The study investigates how Danish kindergarten teachers understand and identify vulnerability in children, with a particular focus on well-being, learning, development and formation. The researcher focuses on how kindergarten teachers’ professional identity, values, and knowledge base influence their assessment of children’s vulnerability, and what factors shape their choice of interventions. The research question is: How do kindergarten teachers understand vulnerability when defining the target group for interventions and special measures?

The results show that kindergarten teachers’ understanding of vulnerability is often linked to either individual characteristics of the child or to the child’s family context. The institutional framework as a potential source of vulnerability is less frequently considered. The kindergarten teachers were most comfortable identifying vulnerability in children from traditionally ‘vulnerable’ families but found it more difficult to identify vulnerability among children from privileged backgrounds. The results also show that the kindergarten teachers’ professional identity, their norms and values, play an important role in how they perceive and respond to child vulnerability. The study highlights the need for a broader understanding of vulnerability in educational practice, including both traditional and emerging perspectives.

The data consist of semi-structured interviews, including three individual interviews and three focus group interviews with a total of 15 kindergarten teachers. The interviews focused on how kindergarten teachers identify children in vulnerable positions, their observations and concerns about vulnerability, as well as available interventions. The analysis process applied Abbott’s theories of jurisdiction, diagnostics, inference and treatment, where both power quotes and representative quotes were used to illustrate the findings.

Theilmann, B. M. (2023). Exploring pedagogues’ understanding and detection of vulnerability in Danish early childhood education and care. Journal of Pedagogy, 14(1), 137–156.