Ann-Marie Markström

The Making of the Ordinary Child in Preschool

The article examines parent–teacher conferences in Finnish and Swedish preschools. Previous research has shown that the conferences are mostly about the evaluation of the child. Based on qualitative data, the article studies how this evaluation is done. It asks how the institutional order regarding children is constructed in parent–teacher conferences and what the ordinary child is like that this order presumes. The theoretical framework is adopted from social constructionist research on childhood and institutions. The analysis applies a discourse analytic framework. The results suggest that being and becoming social is the key expectation for a child in Finnish and Swedish preschools; formal education and learning are not often mentioned. In addition, the results show that generational and gendered assumptions are important elements in the institutional order of preschool.

Assessment and documentation in early childhood education

Documentation in early childhood education is typically seen as a means to enhance the quality of care and education, and as a way to take account of the child’s view.Assessment and Documentation in Early Childhood Education considers the increasing trend towards systematic child documentation especially in early childhood institutions. The authors present ways in which assessment and evaluation is done sometimes explicitly but more often implicitly in these practices, and explore its means, aims, forms, and functions. They also examine the rationalities of child documentation from the perspective of professional practice and professionalism and suggest that documentation and assessment practices can weaken and constrain but also empower and strengthen teachers, children and parents. Topics explored include:Different forms of documentation and assessmentDocumentation and listening to the childrenDilemmas of assessment and documentationParticipation by childrenInvolvement of parentsThis timely bookwill be appealing for those studying in the field of early childhood education, teacher education, special education, general education, social work, counselling, psychology, sociology, childhood studies, and family studies.

Talking about children’s resistance to the institutional order and teachers in preschool

This article highlights the parent—teacher conferences in the Swedish preschool and the talk about children’s inappropriate and undesirable behaviour in a preschool setting.The focus of the article concerns how teachers talk about children’s resistance to the social order in preschool and especially how children show resistance to teachers. The empirical material consists of 22 audio-taped conferences included in a larger study of parent—teacher conferences in a Swedish preschool setting. The analysis reveals five different strategies concerning the talk about children’s resistance to the practitioners and the institution: physical resistance, emotional resistance, social resistance, verbal resistance and resistance through rejection. In addition, the article discusses what is expected of a ‘normal’ preschool child.

The Parent—Teacher Conference in the Swedish Preschool: A Study of an Ongoing Process as a ‘Pocket of Local Order’

This article explores the construction of parent—teacher conferences in the Swedish preschool and focuses on processes that construct and maintain these meetings. The analysis draws upon an ethnographic study in two preschools and the empirical material consists of 11 audiotaped parent—teacher conferences and observations of everyday activities related to them. By using empirical data from a wider context than the specific speech event, it is possible to gain knowledge about the complexity of the construction of parent—teacher conferences. Using the concept of a ‘pocket of local order’, it is argued that parent—teacher conferences are practices which consist of a large number of activities linked to resources and restrictions that can be interpreted as an imperative to the participants to conduct talks in preschool and at home, to fill in forms and then use these activities in the conference. In addition, parents and teachers, as well as children, contribute to the construction and maintenance of the pocket of local order, i.e. activities that can be interpreted as an imperative to the actors to reach institutional goals.

Co-Producing Children's Sociality in Parent–Teacher Conferences

The aim of this article is to describe how parents and preschool teachers talk about childrens interactional skills in parent–teacher conferences in the Swedish preschool and how this can be related to socialization processes. The analyses show that childrens communicative skills, such as turn-taking in conversation and co-operation, are considered as important for both parents and teachers and talked about in terms of trouble or success. Childrens skills are often assessed by using chronological age as a parameter. Our analysis suggests that the talk about childrens interactional skills may be interpreted in terms of deficiency discourses founded primarily on theories in developmental psychology, and that parents, and particularly the teachers, present themselves as socializing agents with regard to children.

Recognition and identification of children in preschool and school who are exposed to domestic violence

ABSTRCT Although domestic violence takes place in the private domain, preschool and school professionals are confronted with its consequences in the intermediate domain between home and school when they encounter children who have been exposed to violence. This article investigates whether and how Swedish professionals in pre/school identify children who are exposed to domestic violence. The results show that pre/school professionals argue that they do not have enough knowledge about the phenomenon or about how to identify the symptoms or signals that emerge from family violence. However, most of these professionals talk about their experience in identifying different factors, both known and unknown, that are important in the process of recognizing children who have been exposed to domestic violence. Even though they find it important to identify and support these children, some professionals have difficulty connecting the issue of witnessing violence with child abuse. In addition, the question of whether and how children who have been exposed to domestic violence are perceived as included in the school’s educational duties seems to be an important issue affecting the staff’s readiness to respond to signals and symptoms.

The decision whether to report on children exposed to domestic violence: perceptions and experiences of teachers and school health staff

Abstract The law requires staff at Swedish preschools and schools to report suspected or known child abuse to the child protection services (CPS). In this qualitative study, focus group and individual interviews with teachers and staff in the school health teams (SHTs) were conducted to examine their experiences and strategies when they decide to make or not make a legislative report to the CPS when they suspect or know that a child has been witnessing domestic violence. What affect professionals at preschool and school when they decide whether to make a report to the CPS? What arguments do the professionals at preschool and school use when they talk about what affects them in their decisions on whether to make a report to the CPS? What prevents or promotes such a decision? The data is analysed from a social constructionist perspective and the concept emotional work. The results indicate that the professionals seem to be very insecure and emotionally governed in such situations. It is explained as a result of a lack of knowledge and support at the institutional level for their complex emotional and practical work in making decisions and acting in relation to children affected by exposure to domestic violence (EDV). In addition, their relations with the CPS are an important factor in how they respond to children that are affected by EDV. The study also reveals some good examples and strategies that professionals use to live up to their mandatory duty to report children that are exposed to domestic violence.

Introduction to preschool : strategies for managing the gap between home and preschool

ABSTRACT The overall aim of this article is to investigate Swedish preschool teachers’ perceptions of the interaction between home and institution in relation to children’s introduction to preschool. The focus of this article is on their talk about how they manage the gap between home and preschool in the introduction process. A discourse analysis is carried out, based on focus group interviews with seven preschool teacher teams that have started to use a more parent-active approach during the introduction of children to preschool. The results show that a parent-active introduction positions and governs parents to take a more self-regulative role in preschool from the beginning. The construction of the parent-active introduction discourse/practice produces new subject positions for the parents (and teachers) and creates expectations of intensified parental involvement in this institutional practice. Furthermore, the results indicate that the parents’ active introduction also changes the teachers’ own role and their attitudes toward the parents. The boundary work between the home and preschool seems to consist of negotiations and of the construction of an intermediate domain between home and preschool that draws on discourses of responsibility, performativity and efficiency.