- Trial lecture starts at: 10.00
- Public defence starts at: 12.00
Title of trial lecture: How can research on internal transitions inform policy and pedagogical practice while recognising children’s diverse experiences and participation?
Disputation chair: Dean Ingunn Folkestad Breistein
Assessment committee:
- First opponent: Professor Rune Haustätter, the University of Inland Norway
- Second opponent: University Lecturer Jaana Juutinen, PhD, the University of Oulu
- Chair of assessment committee: Associate professor Christine Watne Kristiansen, UiA
Supervisors in the doctoral work:
- Main supervisor: Associate Professor Soern Finn Menning, UiA
- Co-supervisor: Professor Niina Rutanen, the University of Juväskylä
Summary of thesis
Performing transitions. A qualitative study of the interplay between institutional structures and children’s participation when transitioning between groups in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care
The study explores transitions within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions. The focus is children’s transitions from a group of toddlers (1–2-year-olds) to a group of older children (3–5-year-olds). The aim of the study is to gain insight into the interplay between institutional structures and children’s active participation when transitioning between groups in Norwegian ECEC settings.
The ethnographic study draws on interviews with 12 ECEC teachers in Southern Norway and observations of 13 children’s transition in two ECEC institutions. The two approaches contribute to a broad understanding of transitions within ECEC institutions by elucidating the institutional structures that constitute transitions, and children’s participation within these structures.
The study consists of three substudies that explores children’s transitions as relational and institutional processes. Substudy 1 highlights the teacher perspective on transitions by drawing attention to possible tensions of transitions. These tensions are constructed through institutional logics, such as a toddler logic and a logic of the older children, which may coexist in the group for older children as children transition into these groups. The various institutional logics may further have implications for children’s available subject positions in institutional groups. Substudy 2 emphasises children’s possibilities to influence their surroundings and participation in daily activities. The substudy demonstrates various forms of agentic actions, i.e., adaptation, resistance, and transcendence. The study highlights forms of agentic actions as potentials for readjusting institutional logics. Substudy 3 draws attention to children’s relational positioning of an older child in the peer community in the group for older children. The substudy elucidates that children’s positioning consists of negotiations of subject position and belonging to peer communities.
Through a meta-analysis of the three substudies, the study introduces the perspective of performing transitions. This perspective contributes to the literature on transitions by highlighting the interplay between institutional structures and children’s active participation. The perspective draws on three interrelated dimensions, namely navigation, manifestations, and negotiations, that illuminate the institutional and relational process of transitioning. Navigation highlights children’s participation as intertwined with institutional expectations that children familiarise themselves with while simultaneously offer alternatives to institutional practices. Manifestations emphasise how children come to the forefront as institutional and social participants within shared groups and peer communities. Negotiations draw attention to how social interactions and belonging to peer communities are negotiated and how social boundaries may differentiate between groups of children within ECEC institutions.
The study suggests transitions should be considered through the pedagogies and practices that frame transitions and children’s active contributions in transitions. An implication is that transitions should be considered through multiple perspectives, e.g., children, parents, and staff, and remain flexible in the meeting between new and old actors. Furthermore, this study shows that a distinction is made between the younger and the older child in peer communities. An implication is that ECEC institutions should facilitate for social meeting arenas to support children’s peer communities across ages.
What to do as an online audience member
The disputation is open to the public. To follow the trial lecture and the public defence online, register on Zoom.
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Opponent ex auditorio:
Deadline for the public to pose questions is during the break between the two opponents. Questions ex auditorio can be submitted to disputation chair.
Contact:
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