"Full kontroll i barnehagen?": en studie av styring og styringsmentalitet

The overall purpose of this study is to examine how management of children and employees in kindergarten takes place through the kindergarten's governmentality. By using the concept of governmentality, the author seeks to understand how knowledge, with regulatory and disciplinary effects, is produced through meetings between people and between people, time and space. The overall purpose of the study is answered through three research questions: (1) How do the employees' expectations and ideas about children impact their practice? (2) In what ways do different regulations of time and space influence the opportunities open to children and employees in everyday activities? (3) What regulations become evident in the interaction between children and employees in the kindergarten?

The first part of the analysis focuses on the employees' expectations of the children in the kindergarten. The author's main point here is that the employees' expectations of the children are important, because the way in which children are talked about and interpreted influences the adults' actions towards the child. The employees' expectations of the children are formed through their experiences with the individual child. On the basis of the characteristics the children are assessed to have, the employees construct expectations of what the individual child is able to do or has the possibility to do. In this way, the children's opportunities in the kindergarten are regulated on the basis of the employees' expectations of them, and the employees' classification of the children has an impact on "who the children can be" in the kindergarten. The author assesses that the employees' expectations are influenced by discourses about normality. The behaviour of both children and adults is regulated through the employees' requirements regarding behaviour, their perceptions of what children should learn as well as what children are expected to be able to do depending on their age and gender. However, the author points out that, even though children are governed and regulated by such frameworks, they are not passive objects who can be shaped without resistance. Children discipline each other, they challenge and limit each other, and they include and exclude each other.

In the second part of the analysis, the author examines how everyday activities in kindergarten are organised through regulations of time and space. Such regulations arise, for example through the employees' planning of space and activities and their division of everyday activities. The analysis indicates that the design and content of the space are significant for the opportunities children and adults experience they have. The division of time also has significance for the behaviour of children and adults, for example in the transition from one activity to another. The employees are largely responsible for the various regulations, by which they are also regulated themselves. Resistance is expressed through alternative practices and attempts to circumvent regulations. The author assesses that several factors can play a part in the regulations initiated of time and space, including the kindergarten's management documents, practical tasks, expectations of what the kindergarten should be like, expectations of children's development and learning, time pressure and the building itself. These factors create frameworks to which both children and adults have to relate, and in which they have to create opportunities.

The final part of the analysis focuses on the interaction between children and adults in the kindergarten. Overall, this analysis indicates that children are described as competent players who are capable of using advanced social strategies. Moreover, the analysis shows that children and adults mutually regulate each other's behaviour. The employees and the children govern and regulate themselves and each other, whilst putting up resistance to being regulated. Both children and adults thus exercise power and resistance, and are active players in their own life and in the lives of others. Finally, the author's analysis points out that the employees' use of power can contribute to excluding individual children from the group. The way in which the employees behave can create an acceptance of exclusion of individual children through their use of looks and body language in their communication with the child or with other employees about the child.

The author conducted observations at four departments in two different kindergartens. In one kindergarten, the author observed two departments for children aged 0-3 years, and in the other kindergarten, she observed two departments for older children aged 3-6 years. The four departments had a total of 14 employees and 51 children (eight children in each of the departments for the youngest children and 17-18 children in each of the departments for the older children). In addition to the observations, the author conducted interviews with the employees (whose Norwegian job titles were pedagogisk leder, vikar, assistent, lærling, fagarbeider and specialpedagog (pedagogical leader, temp, assistant, apprentice, special skills staff and special needs teacher). Finally, the study included photos of the children in the four departments.
Theoretically, the study was inspired by social constructionism, socio-cultural theory and poststructuralism with special emphasis on Michel Foucault's understandings of power, discourse and discipline, including governmentality.

Figenschou, G. (2017). "Full kontroll i barnehagen?": en studie av styring og styringsmentalitet. Doktoravhandlinger ved NTNU, 2017:286. Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Fakultet for samfunns- og utdanningsvitenskap, Institutt for pedagogikk og livslang læring