Purpose
The study investigates how the concept of ‘children’s interests’, which is a key part of the Swedish kindergarten curriculum, materialises itself and gets its own life in everyday kindergarten life. The author studies how this topic in the curriculum text is made visible through the children’s interests and actions in everyday situations in kindergartens.
Result
The author believes it is important to know that the curriculum is not only understood as an isolated text, but also that it is materialised through its relationship with children, employees, schedules, games, etc. in everyday kindergarten life. The content of the curriculum is interpreted through various local curricula and socialised through the relationships it creates between different actors. It is also part of a discourse on children’s rights and the natural and competent child. The study emphasises the importance of refraining from simply looking at the content of the curriculum as some predefined qualities that are locked in the curriculum text. The study also encourages one to delve into how the concepts come to life through local kindergarten practices.
Design
The author has observed 16 children and three employees in a kindergarten in Stockholm over a period of ten months. As part of the ethnographic research, she has participated in several types of activities in everyday kindergarten life – gatherings, reading sessions, meals, trips, staff meetings and evaluation meetings. The observation has alternated between being participatory and non-participatory. She has used actor-network theory as both a methodological and theoretical starting point.
References
Moberg, E. (2018). “Exploring the relational efforts making up a curriculum concept—an Actor-network theory analysis of the curriculum concept of children’s interests”. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 50(1):113-125.