Í rannsókninni sem kynnt er í þessari grein er sjónum beint að þeim gildum og því gildismati
sem fram kemur í stefnu leikskóla á Íslandi. Gildin lýðræði, umhyggja og hæfni voru
einkum til skoðunar og voru þau valin þar sem þau mynda rauðan þráð í Norrænum leikskólanámskrám.
Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að öðlast skilning á þeim gildum sem sett
eru fram í Aðalnámskrá leikskóla (2011) og starfsfólki íslenskra leikskóla er ætlað að miðla
til leikskólabarna. Rannsóknin er hluti af norrænu rannsóknarverkefni, Values education
in Nordic preschools: Basis of education for tomorrow, sem styrkt var af NordForsk. Verkefnið
hafði það að markmiði að rannsaka þau gildi sem norrænir leikskólar byggja starf sitt
á og skoða og greina hvernig þeim gildum er miðlað til leikskólabarna. Í þeim hluta rannsóknarinnar
sem hér er kynnt var þemagreining notuð til að leita uppi og greina mynstur
í námskránni og málfarsleg greining var jafnframt gerð á textanum. Niðurstöðurnar varpa
ljósi á það hvernig gildin lýðræði, umhyggja og hæfni birtast í aðalnámskránni.
In the study presented in this article, the focus is on the values identified in Icelandic
preschool policy. The aim of the study is to explore how the Icelandic national curriculum
guidelines for preschools frame values education and how Icelandic preschool
educators are expected to communicate them to preschool children (Aðalnámskrá
leikskóla, 2011). A particular focus is placed on the values of democracy, caring, and
competence. These values were chosen because they have been found to form a
leitmotif running throughout Nordic curricula for preschools (Einarsdottir, Puroila,
Johansson, Broström, & Emilson, 2015).
The following research questions guided the study:
• What does the national curriculum say about participation and responsibilities of
children in the preschool community?
• How is the concept of care presented in the national curriculum?
• What competencies does the national curriculum emphasize?
The study is part of a larger Nordic project, Values education in Nordic preschools:
Basis of education for tomorrow, the aim of which is to explore values education
from various perspectives, including policy levels, institutional levels, and personal
levels. Values are defined as principles that guide human actions and by which actions are judged to be good or desirable (Halsted & Taylor, 2010). Values education
as a concept refers to educational practices through which children are assumed to
learn societal values, as well as the norms and skills grounded in those values (Halstead
& Taylor, 2000; Thornberg, 2008). The Nordic study applied Habermas’s (1987
theoretical ideas of communicative actions, the life-world, and the system. While the
life-world is related to an inside perspective; that is, the participant’s point of view, the
system relates to an outside perspective; that is, the spectator’s point of view. Here,
the focus is on the system level, namely, the values embedded in Icelandic national
curriculum guidelines for preschools.
Thematic research analysis described by Braun and Clarke (2006) inspired the analysis
of the curriculum guide. Thematic analysis is characterized by flexibility and
involves searching across a data set to identify, analyze, and report patterns. A theme
captures important aspects of the data in relation to the research questions and represents
some level of meaning within the data set. An inductive analysis was also
performed; that is, the themes identified were strongly linked to the data and the coding.
In addition to a thematic analysis of the documents, a language-based approach
was applied to the study. Key words related to democratic, caring, and competence
values were selected, counted and categorized.
The findings of the study provide knowledge about the values of democracy, caring,
and competency in the Icelandic national curriculum guidelines for preschools. The
findings shed light on how these values are presented in the curriculum and reveal
different dimensions and meanings of the three value fields. Democracy is a prominent
value in the document. Emphasis is placed on the importance of children not
only learning about democracy but also having opportunities to understand and exercise
democracy in the preschool setting. Democratic values are, on the one hand,
pointed toward the individual and, on the other hand, toward the group. Care is widely
discussed in the document and presented both as the fulfillment of basic needs and
as an ethical relationship. Emphasis is placed on children learning to show other
children respect and empathy as well as their right to experience sympathy and support
from others. Concepts connected to competence values are highly prioritized in
the curriculum. The competence values concern both a “how” aspect and a “what”
aspect of children’s learning and development; that is, what children should learn and
the methods the preschools should use to support their learning. Competence values
concern both sociality and academic skills. Social competence is in the forefront in
the curriculum and means interacting with other people, participating in society, and
understanding social circumstances. Socio-emotional factors related to the individual,
such as the development of self-esteem, self-image, and self-confidence, are
also mentioned. Learning areas or content areas of the preschool curriculum are
described in the curricular texts, and emphasis is placed on their integration and on
meeting the interests of individual children.
