Teaching nature and nation in the Swedish mobile preschool

The study investigates how national values and ideas are communicated in Swedish mobile kindergartens through the activities of children and educators in nature. The study seeks to shed light on how ‘good’ pedagogy and national identity are expressed in everyday practices involving nature. From an ethnographic perspective, the researchers want to understand how national affiliation can affect children’s learning and connection to nature. The research questions are:

1. How is children’s relationship with nature assumed and practiced? How are children socialised or taught to be in and understand nature?
2. How are emotional and affective relationships with nature observed, created and practiced?
3. How is the environment chosen and created by educators, and what ways of being and acting in nature are permitted and encouraged?

The research results show that ‘good’ nature pedagogy in Swedish mobile kindergartens often conveys national values through different approaches to nature, where Swedish children are more encouraged to engage in free play, while children with minority backgrounds are given more structured activities. The study concludes that this difference in approach can affect children’s connection to both nature and national identity.

The study uses an ethnographic method in which the researchers observe children and educators in three different mobile kindergartens in Sweden over several months. Video recordings and field notes were used to document everyday practices and interactions in nature, and the researchers followed groups of children with different backgrounds. Through analyses of both verbal communication and body language, they investigated how national values are conveyed in the daily interactions within the natural environment.

Ekman Ladru, D., Millei, Z., Andersen, C. E., Gawlicz, K., Gustafson, K., & Lappalainen, S. (2024). Teaching nature and nation in the Swedish mobile preschool. Childhood, 31(1), 13–29.

Online year: 2023

Issue year: 2024

Review year: 2023