”Eksterne forventninger til barnehagen som læringsarena for barn – konsekvenser for ledelse”.

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the players considered by managers of Norwegian preschools as important, and who managers consider have expectations of preschool as a learning arena. The article illustrates how managers experience that especially external players, such as parents, preschool owners and municipal supervisors, have expectations of the preschool, and how the managers relate to these expectations.

The results show that the municipality, private owners and parents are the most important players with regard to expectations of preschool as a learning arena. Their expectations that children should learn are more common and clear than their expectations of what children should learn. The private owners and the municipality primarily expect the framework plan for preschools to be realised, and emphasis to be on specific focus areas, e.g. aesthetic subjects. Parents expect their children to be seen, get friends and receive care. The article indicates that the expectations of all these players have an impact on the way in which managers carry out their work externally and internally at the preschool. The managers try to accommodate the external players' expectations e.g. by playing an active role with regard to suggesting focus areas and pedagogical initiatives, and by working on developing staff qualifications.

The data basis consists of interviews with 16 preschool managers from three municipalities. The preschools were selected on the basis of ownership and size. The interviews were carried out in 2013. The interviews were transcribed, and data was analysed using the NVivo data program.

Moen, K.H. & Granrusten, P.T. (2014). ”Eksterne forventninger til barnehagen som læringsarena for barn – konsekvenser for ledelse”. I: Mørreaunet, S. m.fl. (red.): Ledelse av en lærende barnehage. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.