ERIC Number: EJ1188195
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Jun
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1338-1563
EISSN: N/A
Kindergarten Space and Autonomy in Construction--Explorations during Team Ethnography in a Finnish Kindergarten
Vuorisalo, Mari; Raittila, Raija; Rutanen, Niina
Journal of Pedagogy, v9 n1 p45-64 Jun 2018
Children's autonomy is a cultural ideal in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC). In this article we examine autonomy in spatial terms. The theoretical background is developed by applying spatial sociology. Our starting point is that space is relationally produced, thus, we understand space as continuously negotiated, reconstructed and reorganized phenomena. In this article, we investigate the production of space by different actors in ECEC and seek to show how autonomy is also continuously produced and re-produced in the negotiation of space. For this investigation we use data collected as part of a team ethnographic project in a Finnish kindergarten. The project included conducting observations and interviews with parents and educators. Our research shows that autonomy is developed in multiple ways in kindergarten spaces. Educators as well as children and parents continuously produce and reproduce the kindergarten space within which children's autonomy variously unfolds as linked to independence, freedom and responsibility in the cultural and ideological setting of a Finnish kindergarten.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Kindergarten, Young Children, Personal Autonomy, Early Childhood Education, Ethnography, Social Life, Parents, Preschool Teachers
Sciendo, a company of De Gruyter Poland. 32 Zuga Street., 01-811 Warsaw, Poland. Tel:+48-22-701-5015; eE-mail: info@sciendo.com; Web site: https://www.sciendo.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A