Barns trivsel og medvirkning i barnehagen. Barn, foreldre og ansattes perspektiver.

The purpose of the project was to examine which factors can contribute to creating happy or unhappy children in daycare. The factors examined were: the feeling of interaction between children and staff, children’s own feeling of participation, how they participate, and the connection between participation and different understandings of daycare quality, including size, organisation and ownership.

The authors found a connection between children’s well-being in daycare and that they enjoy the everyday activities offered in daycare, that they can freely use the physical spaces, games and equipment, and that they can decide what activities they want to do. The study demonstrates a correlation between lack of children’s well-being and lack of support from adults who do not assist the children develop their relationships with one another or relationships between children and adults. Furthermore, a correlation is also seen between lack of well-being and not feeling recognised by the adults, teasing, or not being allowed to participate in popular activities. The study does not find any correlation between children’s well-being and the size, type or ownership of the daycare facility. The study also shows that parents and staff assess children’s well-being more positively than the children do themselves. Almost all parents and all staff assess that the children are happy in the daycare facility, whereas approximately 50% of the children say that they are only “okay” when in daycare. A total of 10% of the children do not feel very happy in the daycare facility.

Data was collected in 17 daycare facilities from one municipality in Norway. The facilities differed with regard to organisation (either as bases or departments) and size. A total of 18 children aged between one and three were observed in nine pairs. Furthermore, structured interviews with 171 children aged between four and six were conducted, and a further nine qualitative double interviews with children aged between four and six were also conducted. A total of 218 parents and 137 staff members answered electronic questionnaires. The interviews and the questionnaires were about the children’s well-being and participation in daycare activities. The questionnaires were inspired by ”The Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children” and the Danish tool “Børnemiljøtermometeret” (The Children’s Barometer), that are both known methods for examining children’s well-being. Data was analysed descriptively and using correlational analysis in the statistics program SPSS.

Bratterud, Å., Sandseter, E.B.H. & Seland, M. (2012). Barns trivsel og medvirkning i barnehagen. Barn, foreldre og ansattes perspektiver. Trondheim: NTNU Samfunnsforskning AS. Barnevernets utviklingssenter.