Greinin byggir á tveimur rannsóknum þar sem leitað var eftir hugmyndum barna um
hlutverk og ábyrgð leikskólakennara. Þannig var reynt að skilja þau ómeðvituðu og
meðvituðu gildi sem starfsfólk leikskóla miðlar til barna. Byggt er á hugmyndafræði
bernskurannsókna þar sem litið er svo á að bernskan sé félagslega mótuð og lögð
er áhersla á sjónarmið og þátttöku barna. Jafnframt er tekið mið af Samningi
Sameinuðu þjóðanna um réttindi barnsins (1992) sem lagði mikilvægan grunn að
réttindum og hæfni barna og áhersla er lögð á rétt barna til að tjá skoðanir sínar á
málefnum sem varða þau. Markmiðið með greininni er að varpa ljósi á sýn barna
á hlutverk fullorðinna í leikskólanum og út frá því er leitast við að greina þau gildi
sem starfsfólkið miðlar til barnanna í daglegu starfi. Niðurstöður rannsóknanna
sýndu að í augum barnanna voru hlutverk starfsmanna margþætt og flókin og snerust
um að stjórna, veita umhyggju, að veita stuðning og að vera leikfélagi. Þessi fjögur
hlutverk voru flokkuð og greind í þrjú samofin gildi: Aga, umhyggju og þátttöku.
Rannsóknin sýnir hæfni barnanna til að tjá reynslu sína og sjónarmið á fjölbreyttan
hátt og mikilvægi þess að starfsfólk leikskóla hlusti á sjónarmið barna í daglegu starfi
leikskólans.
The aim of the article is to investigate children’s views on their preschool educators. It is based on two studies with children aged one to five years old in Icelandic preschools (Hrönn Pálmadóttir & Jóhanna Einarsdóttir, 2015; Jóhanna Einarsdóttir, 2014). By examining the children’s views on the educators’ roles, responsibilities, and actions, an attempt was made to understand the conscious and unconscious values that preschool educators communicate to children. The foundations of the two studies are ideas of childhood studies that aim to understand childhood as it is experienced by children, and emphasise the perspectives, agency, and rights of children. Childhood is viewed as a social construction and children are regarded as competent active citizens, capable of participating in and influencing their environment (Dahlberg & Moss, 2005; James & Prout, 1997; Jenks, 2004; Jóhanna Einarsdóttir, 2012; Qvortrup, 1994). Childhood studies share intersecting visions and interest with the children’s rights movement, which has a base in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 2005) ) which recognizes respect for children’s views and their rights to express their opinions and influence their environment. Early-childhood education settings are seen as significant places for children to learn values (Emilson & Johansson, 2009). In this study, values are understood as fundamental principles and convictions which guide behaviour (Halstead & Taylor, 2000, p. 169). Values education refers to educational practices through which children develop and learn values. Values education can be characterised as either explicit, which refers to embedding teaching values in the official curriculum, or implicit, which refers to communicating values through daily practices in educational settings (Thornberg & Oguz, 2013). The article aims to answer two questions:
How do children view the roles of preschool educators?
What values do preschool educators communicate to children?
Four groups of children in three Icelandic preschools participated in the study. In one of the preschools, 46 children, aged one to three, participated. In two preschools, 32 of the oldest preschool children, aged five to six, participated. The younger children’s views were observed mainly through video recordings made during play sessions over a period of five months in one preschool. The older children were given disposable cameras and invited to take photos of what they were doing in preschool. They could also take pictures of the educators and what the educators did in preschool. After the pictures were developed, the children were interviewed individually. Conducting research with children demands attention to several methodological and ethical issues. In this study, the inequality of power between children and the adult researcher was kept in mind; the children were informed of their right to opt out of the study, and when seeking their consent verbal as well as non-verbal gestures were recognized. The findings reveal that according to the children, the roles of the educators were manifold and complex, and it can be assumed that they reflect the values communicated in the preschools. In the eyes of the children, the roles evolved around control, care and support, but the children also found it important that the educators were their playmates and participants in their community. The findings were grouped into three value fields: discipline, care and participation; these were integrated in daily interaction with the children. Discipline stands for the educator’s role as controller who sets the rules and makes sure they are followed. The value of care involves providing the children with support and the value of participation involves the roles of the educators as playmates and participants in the children’s community. The study gives a glimpse of how children express their experiences and perspectives through various means, both non-verbal and verbal. The findings indicate that children are competent to communicate their perspectives, but they are also in a vulnerable position towards the adult educators. The study provides important implications for practice as preschool educators become aware of how they consciously and unconsciously communicate values to children. It is of vital importance that they listen to the children and demonstrate their concern about their acts of meaning, which can provide information about children’s perspectives. It is the educators’ responsibility to hear what children have to say and to become aware of the explicit and implicit values they are communicating to children.
