Together and alone a study of interactions between toddlers and childcare providers during mealtime in Norwegian childcare centres

The purpose of the study is to investigate the quality of interactions between kindergarten employees and children during a lunch meal in kindergarten. The study includes 13 children who are around 18 months old, in 11 different kindergartens in a municipality in Norway. Mealtimes in kindergartens are semi-structured, adult-led situations in which children not only eat, but also get an opportunity to experience implicit learning and interactions.

The results are divided into different areas; (1) structure and organisation, (2) relational climate, (3) sensitivity of kindergarten employees and the child’s collaboration, (4) linguistic support, (5) facilitation of exploration. The findings show good quality in the organisation of meals and the relational climate in approximately half of the kindergartens. Sensitivity, linguistic support and facilitation of exploration were of low quality across all the different kindergartens and the result, according to the authors, gives cause for concern.

The main finding of the study is that the interaction between the children and the kindergarten staff is very limited during the observed meals. The mealtimes were generally not used as an opportunity for positive exchanges, linguistic support, or learning. Instead, the employees’ main focus was on serving food. In many cases, the children had to sit passively and wait, and no positive feedback to the children was recorded during the meal. The children also received little help and had to manage eating on their own. In general, the kindergarten staff seemed unaware that mealtimes could serve as an opportunity for children’s learning.

The absence of linguistic support may in some cases be due to a high number of immigrants and unskilled staff in kindergarten, but this was also observed with educated staff.

The data material has been collected through observation and video observation. The children are from different socioeconomic areas in a municipality and were selected by local health workers. None of the children have any siblings and were around 1 year old when they started kindergarten. The majority of the observations are between the children and their contact person in the kindergarten. The employees have a wide variety of education and experience, from unskilled worker to pre-school teacher. All 11 kindergartens are in the same municipality.

Klette, T., Drugli, M. B. & Aandahl, A. M. (2018). "Together and alone a study of interactions between toddlers and childcare providers during mealtime in Norwegian childcare centres". Early Child Development and Care, 188(3):387-398.