Anna-Maija Puroila

Does Santa exist? Children’s everyday narratives as dynamic meeting places in a day care centre context

The article attempts to answer the question: What is the nature of children’s everyday narratives in a day care centre context? The theoretical framework of this study is based on a narrative approach. The research material was gathered through applying the methodology of narrative ethnography. The article is based on observational material collected from three groups of children within day care centres over the course of one year. The material was analysed through dialogic analysis of narratives. For the purpose of the article, one narrative is used as an evocative anecdote to illustrate research findings revealing the emerging nature of children’s narratives characterised by fragmentariness, multimodality, collaboration and a complex relationship between narrative and context. The article challenges the predominant formalist discourse on children’s narratives, and suggests utilising the pedagogical potential of young children’s narratives in the day care centre context.

Having, loving, and being: children's narrated well-being in Finnish day care centres

The aim of this study is to answer the following question: what do children tell about their well-being in Finnish day care centres? The theoretical and methodological framework of this study is based on a narrative approach. The research material was collected by participating in the everyday life of three groups of children and listening to their narratives. The research material, consisting of observations and tape-recorded conversations, is reflected in a model of well-being developed by a Finnish sociologist, Erik Allardt. This model consists of three dimensions: having, loving, and being. With the intention of understanding childrens well-being, the meanings of having, loving, and being are explored. Instead of arguing for one objective truth, this study offers diverse narratives, conveying both positive and negative experiences of childrens well-being. The most positive experiences deal with inspiring and enabling material environment, responsive adults, good friends, and opportunities for meaningful activities. Darker shades permeate the narratives characterised by unyielding institutional structures, childrens separateness from adults, the exclusion from peer relationships, and not being respected as a subject. This study demonstrates both potentials and limitations involved in narrative methodology when exploring young childrens experienced well-being.

Well-Being Narratives and Young Children.

Abstract Whereas research on children’s well-being in education has largely focused on adult perspectives rather than on children’s understandings, recent scholarship argues for a stronger focus on children’s experience and perceptions of their own well-being. Adopting a narrative approach, this article puts children’s stories centre stage as we explore a philosophy of well-being for early childhood in two distant but similar countries, Finland and Aotearoa New Zealand. The article reports on two independent narrative studies (one from Finland, the other from New Zealand) in which children tell about their own well-being. Both studies acknowledge the difficulties in obtaining unfettered access to children’s experiences and emphasize the importance of human connectedness and community in children’s lives. After a brief introduction, the article compares eudaimonic and hedonic conceptualizations of well-being. In keeping with the characteristics of narrative, children’s perspectives form the central core of the text, with tentative observations offered by the author/researchers as they attempt to interpret the embedded context of the children’s narratives. Connections are made between the two philosophical understandings of well-being and some pedagogical considerations about children’s lives.

Moral Functioning: Navigating the Messy Landscape of Values in Finnish Preschools

ABSTRACT This article employs a narrative approach to explore educators’ moral functioning in Finnish preschools. Our study is theoretically inspired by notions drawn from feminist and sociocultural studies, according to which education is understood as an entirely moral phenomenon. Within a holistic framework, moral functioning is understood as a concept that intertwines educators’ moral thinking, their actions, the situation, and the cultural context. The study aims to answer the question: What kind of moral functioning emerges from educators’ narratives in a Finnish preschool context? Research material was produced from four group interviews and interpreted through narrative analysis. Our findings reveal that four different moral layers evolved, overlapped, and intertwined in educators’ narratives: what works in a preschool context; what provides good for people; what the rules say; and what is possible to achieve in an educator’s position. We present these findings in detail and discuss their theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications.

‘If my sister was here’ – The narrative in-between space in young children’s photography process

This article explores a photography project that was implemented with two groups of children in Finnish day care centres. The aim of the project was to learn about children’s experiences of their daily lives in day care. Based on the premises of recent visual and narrative research with children, we approached the children’s photography process in terms of multimodal narration. Our research material consisted of photographs, observations from the photography process and narratives around the pictures. The material was analysed holistically in order to seek answers to the research question: What kind of narrative space is formed for young children during the photography process? As a result, we identified five intertwined dimensions that were relevant to our research question. Photography emerged as a process that provided children (1) a space for narrating differently, (2) a space for multisensory and emotional discoveries, (3) a space for breaking cultural limits, (4) a space for encounters and (5) a space for spontaneous cache-stories. The theoretical, methodological and ethical aspects, as well as the pedagogical implications of the study, are discussed.

Toward the Fusion of Different Horizons: Methodological Potentials and Challenges when Exploring Values Education in Nordic Preschools

This chapter draws from a research project within which researchers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden investigated values education in Nordic preschools. The project was based on an interpretive methodology in which knowledge was co-constructed with educators and within a cross-national research team rather than drawn from direct comparisons between the countries. This chapter contributes to the discussions on cross-cultural methodologies by critically exploring the methodological potential and challenges faced in three sub-studies within the Nordic project. We seek an answer to the question: How is it possible to achieve understanding across professional, linguistic, and national borders? Applying ideas from Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy, interpretation and understanding are approached in terms of the fusion of horizons. On one hand, the study reveals the potential for encounters of different horizons through collaboration between educators and researchers as well as between researchers from different countries. Coming into contact with a different horizon may broaden the fore-understandings of the interlocutors, thus deepening their understanding. On the other hand, the study draws attention to the challenges of understanding, such as the lack of a common language and limitations when using translated texts. Implications for future research are discussed.

“There Is No Room for You!” The Politics of Belonging in Children’s Play Situations

This study is part of a research project exploring values education in Nordic preschools. The study approaches the value of belonging from a relational perspective with the aim of deepening our understanding of how the politics of belonging emerges in children’s play situations in Finnish preschools. The politics of belonging refers to the processes by which belonging and exclusion are constructed in children’s daily lives. The study applies three axes of belonging (categorization, resistance and desire, and performativity) as analytical tools to interpret the small stories of daily life by asking: What kinds of tensions can be identified when children are included in and excluded from play situations? The research material comprises video recordings and observations from four preschools. The findings provide insights into the politics of belonging as constant movements between children positioned as insiders and outsiders. The processes of belonging and exclusion abound with tensions between stability and variability, including and excluding, and individuality and collectivity. The study reveals that materiality is not a neutral, power-free element of a particular setting, but, rather, an aspect of the politics of belonging.

Discourse of Efficiency: Conflicting Values in Educators’ Talk About Everyday Practices in the Cloakroom

This chapter examines conflicting values in a study on educators’ talk about everyday practices in preschool. The aim of the study is to identify how different values create meaning regarding efficiency in educators’ conversations about everyday practices with children in the cloakroom. The research questions are as follows: How does the discourse of efficiency emerge from educators’ conversations? What different values can be identified in the educators’ descriptions of everyday practices in the cloakroom? The theoretical and methodological frameworks are based on Fairclough’s critical discourse theory. The textual analysis revealed metaphors and identified implicit values in the educators’ utterances. The results highlight a network of various values in the educators’ talk, which are connected in complex ways. They represent different discourses struggling to occupy a hegemonic position in the educators’ utterances. This indicates an ongoing process of restructuring or change in the social relations in preschool and in the identities of the preschool educators.

Sharing, Retelling, and Performing Narratives: Challenging and Supporting Educators’ Work with Values in Nordic Preschools

This chapter draws on Norwegian and Finnish studies that were a part of a Nordic project on values education in preschools. In both contexts, narratives were combined with a participatory action research methodology. Narratives were employed to inspire reflection, contribute to new knowledge, and enable educators to share experiences about their work with values. The focus of this chapter is methodological: How do narratives promote researchers and educators to generate knowledge about values? How do narratives promote improving educators’ work with values? With the aim of contributing knowledge about the potential of narratives in participatory action research, three examples are discussed in the light of the ontological and epistemological premises of narrative research. The chapter focuses on the two following aspects: First, narratives involve potential to promote educators’ participation in an action research process by providing a meeting space for educators and researchers to collaboratively explore pedagogical situations. Second, narratives offer a fruitful ground for educators and researchers to reflect on how values are integrated into the complexities of the educational practices. The chapter contributes to methodological discussions of early childhood education research and offers different concrete examples regarding how to employ narratives in research and when developing values education in practice.

Values in Nordic Preschools: Setting the Scene

This book addresses the field of values education in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. In a globalizing world, and especially in an age of pluralism, the acknowledgment of values has become increasingly important. A genuine pluralistic community requires institutions and open spaces for a multiplicity of values to be pronounced and communicated. The communication of values, in a broad and diverse sense, is central in any pedagogy and in all ECEC settings throughout the world.