The present study focused on professionals' meaning-making support to young children (1-6 years old) anticipating and grieving the loss of a parent because of a severe, somatic disease. A two-phased interview study with palliative health-care professionals (11) and kindergarten teachers (18) provided data for a comparative analysis of…

This comparative study of everyday life in Norwegian and French preschools explores how 'risk' related to children's body practices is understood, practised and negotiated by teachers and how this may regulate educational practices in a short- and long-term perspective. Studying educational institutions in two different societies illuminates…

This paper is the first in a series of three studies that explore the pedagogy used in the Norwegian and Russian early childhood settings by examining texts that are part of the syllabus in two early childhood teacher education programs that participated in our project with student international exchanges. The study explores how Mikhail Bakhtin's…

For many children living in Northern and mountainous regions of the world, playing in snow is enticing and connotes childhood for many adults. Even so, researchers have paid little attention to children's play in/with snow and ice. This paper aims to contribute to the growing knowledge on children's competencies and child-nature relationships by…

The aim of this paper is to advance knowledge about the politics of belonging in Norwegian preschools by exploring how educators describe and consider processes of belonging in their educational practice. In educational research, the dominating focus has been on the sense of belonging and children's emotional bonding to others. Here belonging is…

Care is traditionally researched in ECEC as a dyadic, human phenomenon that relies heavily of tropes of females as care providers. The assumption that care is produced in dyadic relationships occludes material care practices that occur beyond the dyad. Drawing on Bernice Fisher and Joan Tronto's care ethics and Karen Barad's focus on the agency of…

The theme for this article is parents' and centre leaders' opinions regarding what makes a good kindergarten. Both stakeholder groups agree on statements expressing child-centred values as indicators of a good kindergarten. However, their opinions differ regarding children's learning and work with letters and numbers; more parents than centre…

Purpose: This article examines how early childhood curriculum documents in two culturally different contexts are associated with current concepts of sustainability and principles of early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) in China and Norway. Design/Approach/Methods: Applying critical document analysis, the study explores a number of…

This article presents Norwegian and Croatian students' perspectives on conditions for their professional growth during undergraduate kindergarten teacher education. The data gathered through focus group interviews are theorized using the cultural-historical wholeness approach that identifies institutional conditions for the development of certain…

The basis for my article is how, and if, a collaborative land art project can provide opportunities for such co-creating as suggested in the national framework plan for preschools, which explicitly states the child as a co-creator of a shared expressive culture. I further wish to propose land art as a meaningful cultural practice, closely…

This article aims to trouble the identity of children's dramatic play(ing). It contains two interweaving threads of discourse. In one thread lies a discussion of how children can trouble and extend their own identities through the aesthetic form-languages and conventions they employ and deploy in their dramatic playing/pretend playing. Whereas…