Curiosity – A value-loaded notion. Exploring practices around curiosity in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Norway

The aim of the article-based thesis is to investigate pedagogical practices and reflections on the topic of curiosity in kindergarten from an ethical perspective. The author wishes to provide kindergarten employees with new perspectives on how value aspects are and can be part of the practices regarding children’s curiosity. The thesis has a main research question and four sub-questions: 1) How can ethical theory clarify and contribute to the concept of curiosity in Norwegian kindergarten practice? a) What dominant aspects of curiosity can be traced from a selection of public kindergarten documents? b) How do practitioners reflect in a Norwegian context on the importance of curiosity in their practice? c) What type of value dilemmas describe kindergarten employees when challenged by children’s curiosity? d) What alternative perspective on the importance of curiosity in education can be made visible through ethical theorisation?

In the document analysis of possible correlations between curiosity and values in public documents, the dominant perspective was that curiosity regarding learning and increasing knowledge was valued, while other possible credentials regarding the relevance of curiosity were less visible. The kindergarten staff inform about several value dilemmas when challenged by the children’s curiosity. Among other things, they must navigate between promoting equality and supporting individual children, maintaining social order while encouraging children to question the status quo, and being professional while they are personally involved. The researcher believes that there is a correlation between relational ethical theory and the concept of curiosity in an pedagogical context, and argues that an alternative justification for the value of curiosity in educational institutions should be explored. He argues social curiosity is something that creates opportunities for change in relationships and is the expression of an inherent human interdependence.

The empirical data consists of video observations and focus group interviews from three Norwegian kindergartens. In addition, the staff also participated in focus group interviews in two other kindergartens. A selection criterion for kindergartens was that they mentioned the word curiosity in one form or another on their website. The kindergartens were also selected to ensure a variation in pedagogical profiles, organisation, a varied socio-economic background among the children and variation in the age and education of the staff. In total, the sample consisted of 28 kindergarten employees and 66 children. The focus group interviews consisted of two phases: In the first phase, the staff was interviewed about attitudes towards and experiences of the children’s curiosity in kindergarten. Phase two consisted of a new interview, after the video observation, in which the staff reflected on their own practices. In order to analyse value aspects of curiosity in public documents, the researcher carried out a document analysis of the Framework Plan for Kindergartens, Reports to the Storting between 2009 and 2016 and OECD documents on quality in kindergartens.

Menning, S. F. (2019). “Curiosity – A value-loaded notion. Exploring practices around curiosity in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Norway”. Academic thesis. University of Agder.