Teacher–child interaction in a goal-oriented preschool context: A micro-analytical study.

The study explores how kindergarten teachers and children relate to each other in a goal-oriented Swedish kindergarten. In this context, ‘goal-oriented’ means a kindergarten that emphasises preparing children for school. The research questions are: 1) How is social adaptation worked on in the interaction between kindergarten teacher and child during a goal-oriented activity? 2) How can social adaptation in kindergarten be understood in light of a ‘deference-emotion system’?

The results show that the interactions were governed by an informal system where nonverbal signs of respect were important. Seeing as the interaction took place in a kindergarten context that emphasises goal-oriented learning, this shows how challenging it can be for kindergarten teachers to focus on goals while at the same time having good relationships with the children.

The data material is taken from a previous project carried out in 2015–2018 where the goal was to explore the interaction between kindergarten teachers and children in daily documentation practices in kindergartens. Situations that included some form of documentation were video recorded. Seven teachers and 35 children aged three to six participated. From these data, 173 minutes, during which verbal and nonverbal adult–child interaction took place, were selected for further analysis.

Nilfyr, K., Aspelin, J. & Lantz-Andersson, A. (2021). "Teacher–child interaction in a goal-oriented preschool context: A micro-analytical study". Education sciences, 11(11):692.