Mat á námi og vellíðan barna: Lærdómur af samstarfsrannsókn í fimm leikskólum

Abstract

Grein þessi fjallar um samstarfsrannsókn (e. collaborative action research) sem unnin var í samstarfi RannUng (Rannsóknarstofu í menntunarfræði ungra barna) og fimm leikskóla í sveitarfélögum á höfuðborgarsvæðinu. Markmið þessarar samstarfsrannsóknar var að þróa leiðir til að meta nám og vellíðan barna í þátttökuleikskólunum, í samræmi við áherslur í Aðalnámskrá leikskóla 2011. Tilgangurinn var að leikskólakennarar og leiðbeinendur í leikskólunum þróuðu matsaðferðir sem jafnframt endurspegluðu þau viðhorf til náms sem byggt er á í leikskólastarfinu. Rannsóknin var skipulögð með samstarfsrannsóknarsniði, þar sem þátttakendur í hverjum leikskóla völdu og mótuðu matsaðferðir út frá meginmarkmiðum leikskólastarfsins í samstarfi við háskólakennara og meistaranema frá Menntavísindasviði Háskóla Íslands sem studdu við ferlið og héldu utan um rannsóknir og kynningu á verkefninu. Niðurstöður leiddu í ljós að misræmi var á viðhorfum þátttakenda til náms og þeirra matsaðferða sem stuðst var við í leikskólunum. Megináhersla í leikskólastarfinu var á félagsfærni, vellíðan og sköpun barna en við mat á námi hafði verið lögð áhersla á að meta þroskaþætti svo sem varðandi málþroska og hljóðkerfisvitund. Í ljósi þess að aðstæður í leikskólunum voru misjafnar og þær leiðir sem þátttakendur völdu til að ná markmiðum í hverjum leikskóla voru ólíkar má segja að lærdómur í hverjum leikskóla beri þess merki. Í öllum leikskólunum mátti greina viðhorfsbreytingu hjá leikskólakennurum en sérstaklega hjá leiðbeinendum. Breytingin birtist í að með því að skrá það sem fram fór beindu leikskólakennarar og leiðbeinendur athygli sinni meira að áhuga barnanna og sjónarmið þeirra urðu sýnilegri í leikskólastarfinu. Þróun skráninga sem nýta mátti í mati á námi og vellíðan barna komst vel á veg í nokkrum leikskólanna. Mikilvægur þáttur námssöguskráninga felst í ígrundun, en þann þátt hefðu flestir þátttakendur í þessari rannsókn mátt þróa betur. Tveir leikskólanna nýttu stafræna tækni meira en aðrir og þátttakendur í þeim leikskólum létu vel af því. Ekki virtist þó sem tæknin veitti meira svigrúm til ígrundunar. Skráningarnar voru gjarnan, en þó mismikið, nýttar til breytinga með það að markmiði að styðja betur við áhuga, nám og styrkleika barna, en þær reyndust sjaldan nýttar til ígrundunar með börnunum

The article reports on collaborative action research conducted jointly between RannUng (Centre for Research in Early Childhood Education) and five preschools in municipalities in the Reykjavík area. The aim of this action research was to develop methods to assess children’s learning and well-being as stated in the National curriculum guide (Mennta- og menningarmálaráðuneytið, 2012) [Ministry of Education, Science and Culture 2011 (2012)]. According to the National curriculum, varied assessment methods should be used in relation to the curricular aims. Children should be participants in the assessment and supported in reflecting on their own learning. Also, preschool teachers are expected to share and reflect on assessment together with parents. Therefore, a collaborative action research project was planned, for the purpose of assisting preschool teachers and assistant teachers in creating methods to capture children’s interest and activities in order to develop assessment practices that would reveal children’s learning and well-being in their play and interaction. Another aim was to share with families insights into children’s lives in the preschools and to use this information to improve preschool practice.

During the first steps of the research project, preschool teachers and assistant teachers explored their own perspectives of children and their learning and mapped existing preschool assessment methods. As the participants regarded social skills and children’s well-being as the most important factors in preschools, they came to the conclusion that documentation might help to provide insight into children’s ways of interacting; their ideas, creative powers and well-being. Consequently, the participants acquainted themselves with documentations, starting by practicing documenting Learning Stories developed in New Zealand as an assessment method. According to the action research design the participants in each preschool chose and developed ways of documenting, focusing on how to make documentations and use the information for assessment in relation to the school curriculum in each of the five preschools. Master students’ role in this collaboration was to support the process in the preschools, conduct interviews and make observations, guided by the university teachers through the entire process. The students also consulted the preschool teachers and assistant teachers as they took part in writing about the study and presenting its findings.

The analysis built on data from interviews with participants in the preschools, research diaries and observations from all participants. The results showed that in the beginning there was a discrepancy between what the participants in the preschools saw as important to address in preschool education and the assessment methods used in the preschools. The social situation in each of the five preschools was different and thus the process of the project reflected different learning paths.

Through the process of the research, in all five preschools, a change of attitudes was detected among the participants, not least amongst the assistant teachers. For them, taking part in this process seemed to be educational, they became stronger in their role as assistant teachers and acquired a deeper understanding of children’s interactions when playing and taking part in other activities. The preschool teachers and assistant teachers started to focus their attention towards what was of interest to the children and children’s views became more visible in the preschools. In some of the preschools the use of documentations became part of assessing children’s learning and well-being. However, reflection as an important part of documentation was lacking or weak in some of the preschools. The participants in two preschools used more digital technology than the others, and even though there were some challenges in the beginning they praised these tools as easy to use and suitable for organizing all the different forms of data from the documentations. It has to be acknowledged that in these two preschools the space for reflection was rather scarce at the time of the study. In two of the preschools information from the learning stories had only been used to a small extent to change the preschool plan. In the other three preschools, not only had new assessment practices been adopted, but also rules within the classrooms and the preschools as a whole were changed.

What we have first and foremost learned from this collaborative action research project is that many challenges arise in relation to both collaborative action research and developing methods to assess children’s learning and well-being. It needs to be taken into account that not only have both parents and children the right to take part in assessment in preschools, they can also be important participants in the Learning Story process. Furthermore, it needs to be underlined that in Learning Stories and other types of documentation it is recommended that documenting should be integrated into all parts of preschool practice.