Children's language development is a core task in Swedish preschool and central to how educators organize teaching and everyday activities. The curriculum's definition of language is described as extended, with language as both a prerequisite for learning and a learning effect, i.e. both internal processes and communication. This means that…

This study examines how researchers and practitioners navigate between different discourses in a large-scale research-practice partnership (RPP). While argued to be challenging to conduct, RPPs are also argued to be promising for closing the research-practice gap in education. To contribute to our understanding of RPPs, 45 h of video recorded…

This article is an empirically grounded contribution to the understanding of how digitalization in education is interpreted and made into being by actors in everyday lives, in this case children and teachers in Swedish early childhood education. The focus is on interactions in an early childhood classroom upon and around a digital interactive…

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are emerging as a promising approach for educational change by closing the gap between educational research and practice. However, these partnerships face several challenges, such as addressing cultural differences as well as relationship-building in a historically unbalanced relationship between researchers…

This article focuses on student teachers' professional development and explores how the students connect theory and practice in these processes. Data consist of 17 talks during weekly seminars with 15 preschool student teachers and a group of researchers both at campus and at the practicum placements during their first term. Initially, the…

We report here on an intervention implementing a structural approach to arithmetic problem-solving in relation to learning outcomes among preschoolers. Using the fundamental principles of the variation theory of learning for developing the intervention and as an analytical framework, we discuss teaching and learning in commensurable terms. The…

In recent years, many programs and manuals for 'norm criticism´ have been produced for schools in Sweden. In this article, I situate norm criticism and norm critical pedagogics within discourses of values and norms, legal rights and policies through a close reading of the material produced for the Swedish pre-school. I explore the targets, modes,…

Desexualized heteronormativity saturates most educational spaces. Thus, research on LGBTQ teachers tends to focus on the precarious and vulnerable work conditions produced by this norm. The aim of this article is to contribute to a shift in the tale(s) about LGBTQ teachers so that they are presented as subjects rather than victims. Three…

According to the national framing of the Swedish preschool system, educators are expected to act as mediators of the dominant language while simultaneously promoting multilingualism. Previous research shows that educators display an insecurity as well as a lack of knowledge of how to implement this dual undertaking. This article examines…

In this empirical study we analyse how children (aged four- to six-years-old) through communicative engagement with their teachers around their own drawings are supported in developing representational insight, that is, going from indicative sign-making to symbolic understanding. Theoretically, the analysis is informed by a sociocultural…

This article explores parents' perspectives on, and experiences of, home and preschool collaboration. The data consist of in-depth interviews with 10 parents with one or several children attending preschool. The research process of gathering and analyzing data follows the procedures of constructivist grounded theory. The results show how parents…

In Swedish preschools teachers seem to struggle with the concept of "teaching" in their day-to-day practices. A three-year collaborative research project involving preschool teachers, managers and researchers therefore aimed to describe and further develop knowledge about what could characterize teaching and co-assessment based on…

This article is positioned in the context of a discussion about an increasing focus on quality in education. The aim of the article is to explore discourses enacted in Systematic Quality Work (SQW) in municipalities and leisure-time centres. In Sweden, SQW comes within the statutory obligations of municipals and leisure-time centres and…

In Sweden and many other countries, the academisation of teacher education goes along with increased emphasis on a student thesis, in Sweden formally entitled the final degree project. This study deals with students' writing trajectories in Early Childhood Education and Care aimed at work in the preschool or the recreation centre. The study…

The purpose is to discuss two competing theories of learning in preschool based on preschool teachers' views of knowledge and learning. The focus is mathematical learning but the discussion is applicable to all early childhood learning contexts. Preschool teachers' views on children's learning and development is important for the pedagogy they use…