Dagplejen i Danmark - en observationsundersøgelse.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether childminders for daycare in private homes enable and use appreciative forms of dialogue. This means that the child experiences reciprocal attentiveness in interactions with the childminder and that it experiences a varied interaction pattern. The background for this purpose is that the research is based on theoretical studies in which the child's development of self is linked with experiences in zones of joint attentiveness between the childminder and the child. The conditions for the child and the childminder to be able to meet in these interactions are that the childminder is able to read the child emotionally, establish physical intimacy and help the child's development in the zone of proximal development. The researcher assumes that the framework of daycare in private homes provides good opportunities for a rich and varied interaction pattern which encourages learning as well as the child's opportunities to sense itself.

On the basis of field observations, the study shows that there are great variations in childminders' pedagogical practices as well as in their ability to create learning and development space for the children. The majority of childminders are good at creating what is assessed by the author as safe and loving frameworks and at creating situations which contribute positively to the child's self-development (what the author calls an "appreciative form of dialogue"). The children are also met with physical and psychological care in a play room context. There is no planned pedagogical content, and childminders often have private conversations with each other. This means that the childminders' focus in the play room is moved from the child to the mutual interplay and relationships between the childminders.

Furthermore, the analysis of interaction patterns in daycare in private homes shows that the older the child, the more interaction it has with the childminder. The interaction is recognised as being relatively longer and as having several dialogue changes, which means that the older child has more adult-initiated interaction than the younger. Moreover, the study shows that children with younger childminders have more interaction than children with older childminders, and that the qualified childminders create considerably more open interaction than the unqualified childminders; i.e. forms of dialogue which not only require a yes or a no from the child.

The data collection was through observations in private homes with daycare and at play rooms in six Danish municipalities. A total of 65 childminders were observed. At the beginning of the observation period, the observer selected a child aged 12-24 months as the focus child. A total of 521 hours and 31 minutes of observation material was collected. The data material and the analysis of this material are divided into two parts: first an ethnographic description in which the childminder's pedagogical choices during the day are written down in the field notes by the observer. Then observations and registrations of the interaction patterns of 130 children have also been noted. The children's interactions were registered on the basis of the following factors: the nature of the interaction, the number of dialogue changes, duration of dialogue and the initiator of the interaction. The analysis compares these factors with background variables, such as the level of education of the childminder, age of the childminder and the number of children in daycare.

Hansen, O.H. (2013). Dagplejen i Danmark - en observationsundersøgelse. København: Institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik, Aarhus Universitet.