Kjærlig kamp. En analyse og drøfting av barnehagelæreres dømmekraft i situasjoner med verdimotsetninger mellom foreldre og ansatte i barnehager med religiøst mangfold.

The study investigates what happens when employees in kindergartens with religious diversity encounter parents with different values than what the kindergarten stands for. The purpose of the thesis is to gain insight into kindergarten employees' action strategies and judgement in encounters with conflicts of values in kindergartens.

The research questions are:

1) How do kindergarten teachers resolve situations involving conflicts of values in a kindergarten with religious diversity?

2) How do kindergarten teachers practice respect and tolerance in their encounters with parents in a diversity context?

3) Which elements of judgement apply to kindergarten teachers’ practice?

The analysis shows that in some situations, kindergarten teachers rejected parents' values, while in other cases, they adapted their practice to the parents' wishes. In one kindergarten, a clear value pluralisation took place, and the teachers' perception of what was in the child's best interests was usually decisive for what the choices were. In the other kindergarten, however, the employees' personal beliefs and life stances played a greater role than the best interests of the child and the framework plan's guidelines in the encounter with religious holidays. The field of ethics, religion and philosophy is seen as a marker of how actively kindergartens work towards an inclusive community.

The data material consists of observations with and without the use of video, as well as interviews with twelve employees and twelve parents in two Norwegian kindergartens.

Moen, K. (2021). "Kjærlig kamp. En analyse og drøfting av barnehagelæreres dømmekraft i situasjoner med verdimotsetninger mellom foreldre og ansatte i barnehager med religiøst mangfold". Akademisk avhandling. Nord Universitet.