EECERA Conference 2014
‘
Crete, Greece 7th - 10th September 2014
An international project on
CHILDREN’S PERSPECTIVES ON
LEARNING – A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Denmark, Estionia and Germany
Self-organised Symposium
Three presentations
1) Danish and Swedish preschool-children´s view on their
own learning and participation
INGE JOHANSSON (1), ANETTE SANDBERG (2), STIG
BROSTRÖM (3) AND THORLEIF FRØKJÆR (4), (1)
Department of Child and Youth Studies, Sweden; (2)
Mälardalens Högskola, Sweden; (3) Aarhus University,
Denmark; (4) University College Capital, Denmark
2) Estonian preschool-children´s view on their own learning
MAIRE TUUL, Tallinn University, Estonia
3) German preschool children's view on learning
CHRISTA KIEFERLE (1), ANJA SEIFERT (2) AND ANGELA
ROTH (1), (1) State Institute of Early Childhood Research,
Germany; (2) University of Education, Ludwigsburg, Germany
The aim of the present study
• The aim of the study is to gain
knowledge on how preschool children
perceive learning in preschool and other
surrounding social contexts and to
compare the views of children and
preschool teachers of the content of
learning.
• The study is a continuation of previous
studies focusing on preschool teachers
view on children’s learning
• Several publications
International project - participants
Stig Broström
Aarhus University, Copenhagen
Thorleif Frøkjær
University College Copenhagen
Inge Johansson
Stockholm Universty
Anette Sandberg
Mälerdalens University
Kay Margetts
University of Melbourne
Berenice Nyland
RMIT University
Nikolay Veraksa, Zlata Airapetyan
Russian State University for the Humanities,
Igor Shiyan, Moscow City Teacher's
Training University, and Anna Fominykh
Psychological Institute of Russian Academy
of Education
Christa Kieferle
State Institute of Early Childhood Research,
Munich
Angela Roth
State Institute of Early Childhood Research,
Munich
Anja Seifert
University of Education, Ludwigsburg
Aino Ugaste
Maire Tull
Tallinn University
Kalliope Vrinioti
University of Western Macdonia
Previous publications
• Earlier research done by members of the group of
researchers from Sweden, Denmark, Estonia,
German, Greece, and Australia:
• Learning and participation - two interrelated keyconcepts in the preschool (Johansson and Sandberg,
2008)
• Danish and Swedish preschool teacher’s view on
children’s learning and participation (Broström,
Frøkjær, Johansson, and Sandberg, 2012)
• Preschool teacher’s view on children’s learning
Margetts, Broström, Frøkjær, Johansson, Kieferle,
Nyland, Roth ,Sandberg, Seifert, Tull,Vrinioti, and
Ugaste, in press).
Preschool children’s view on
their learning
Denmark and Sweden
Inge Johansson
Anette Sandberg
Thorleif Frøkjær
Stig Broström
Methods
• Focus groups are used in a group context (Morgan,
1998a; Morgan & Kreuger, 1993).
• In this study, the same interview areas were used in
all focus group interviews in Denmark and Sweden. To
identify children’s views about how children learn, the
focus group interviews comprised four main questions:
–
–
–
–
What to learn?
How to learn?
Where can you learn?
What would you like to learn?
• Information was given about the conditions for
participants to the parents according to the accepted
research ethical principles
Participants
•
In Sweden, children ages 4-6 years were
interviewed in 18 focus groups (3-4 children in each
group), total 69 children, equal numbers of boys and
girls
• In Denmark, children aged 5-6 years were
interviewed in 2 focus group with 6 children in each
group), equal numbers of boys and girls
What to learn?
The category; What to learn was based on
three questions:
• Tell me when you learn something?
• Tell me what you learn in preschool and
• Tell me what you learn as you play?
What to learn?
•
Denmark
Practical skills: play with toys,, new
games, to dance, swim, football,
learned a self-constructed game
Social skills: To play with other, to
through things (in circle time)
Academic skills: To read books, to
write letters
Knowledge: knowledge on nature
(names of animals), learning about
things out in the world
Behaviour –disciplinary values: Norms
for behaviour
Play: learn to play with specific
toys, Lego
Sweden
Practical skills: Ride a bike, do
karate
Social skills: Learn in relation to
other
Academic skills: Math, reading,
writing
Knowledge: Nature and nature
phenomenon
Behaviour –disciplinary values:
learn to be kind, a good friend, do
what the adult says
Play: learning rules in play, to be
a good comrade
What to learn? S & DK
Preschool teacher and children
• The category “What to learn” we see no big
differences between Sweden and Denmark
• Play includes clear elements of learning.
Learning to play with other children ranked
highest among preschool teachers, 85% in
Sweden, and 73% in Denmark, in the earlier
study
How to learn?
The category; How to learn was based on the
questions;
• Tell me do you learn when you play by yourself?
• Tell me, if you and your comrades and the
preschool teacher doing something together, do
you need the preschool teacher so you can learn
something new?
• Tell me do you learn something from your
comrades?
• Tell me do you learn something by initiating
other children or preschool teachers?
How to learn?
•
Denmark
I learn myself: They are aware of
this dimension. I just do so; I am
good to learn lot
Learning by help of the adults:
Children are very aware of the
adults role; you have to do what the
coach says; You can ask our Mum
and Dad
Learning from other children:
Gustav taught me to whistle
Learning by training: You have to
train yourself
Sweden
I learn by myself: They learn
when they are playing with
themselves – but difficult to
clarify what they learn
Learning by help of the adults:
They are very much aware of the
teachers role and they know the
staff facilitates their learning
Learning from other children:
They described in details how to
learn from other children: If
someone does something you learn.
They gave examples of reading,
building etc.
Learning by training: I tend to
imitate the preschool teacher
How to learn?
Preschool teacher and children
• This picture is consistent with the pre-school
teachers underestimate situations in preschool
characterized by learning. It highlights that
learning occurs in situations that build on
children's own initiatives Denmark (56%) and
Sweden (63%) and free play Denmark (45%)
and (Sweden 58%). The importance of adult
learning emerges in some aspects, for
example the circle-time. This situation's
significance may be quite low proportion
ratings among preschool teachers themselves
in Denmark (26%) and in Sweden (31%).
Where to learn?
Denmark
Sweden
Learning at home: At Home I
learned to write Cow; I ask my Mum
and Dad
Learning at home, in preschool and
in school
•
Learning in preschool: In circle time
- when somebody shows something.
When we play greengrocer (learn to
count)
Learning in school: You have to
listen to the teacher, otherwise the
teacher becomes sour..
Alternative places: at the museum,
In addition children also
emphasized that they needed a
place to be left alone to learn.
And they also call for activities
with friends:
A boy, 5 years describes: "Need
buddies when I built hut and when
something happens on the iPad, if
I should get into Unikum, I can be
a bit on the unique."
Where to learn?
General findings:
Concerning the category “where to
learn” the Danish findings are in
accordance with the Swedish results:
From children’s perspective learning
occurs in many different contexts.
This is consistent with findings from the
study of pre-school where the preschool
teachers see learning as something that
characterizes the entire preschool.
What would you like to learn?
•
Denmark
Practical skills:
Learn to tell the time
Learn to plat basket and tennis
Learning in school:
Learn to read, learn English and
Norwegian; to write numbers
Sweden
Practical skills:
In general children want to learn
”crafts”, e.g. to draw princess,
swig and play free play
Also basic skills: swimming,
building go-carts
- And reading
Learning in school:
Learn to count, read, write.
Learn about the sun and other
planets
Learn to be on time and be silent
What would you like to learn?
The responses show that children
see a clear difference in pre-school
and school activities, the school
where learning can be interpreted as
having a distinct structure compared
to preschool.
The result related to preschool
teacher’s view
•
Overall, there is good agreement
between preschool teachers and the
children's approach to learning
• However also differences between
preschool teacher’s and children’s view
Overall a good agreement between
preschool teacher’s and children’s view
•
Preschool teacher
Children
Swedish preschool teachers believe
that the most important is "to be
part of a group and be part of the
active interaction".
The children mention general
activities that involve them as
active participants in different
practices, in sports and in playing
with other children.
Children learn when they are
absorbed in something
children express that they learn
when they practice
•
However also differences between
preschool teacher’s and children’s view
Preschool teacher
Children
Danish preschool teachers assess
their impact low
All statements on the teachers role
score below 50%
Children understand that the adult
play a role in their learning:
- I have learned it from my
father and mother
- I learn from adults in preschool
However Swedish preschool teachers
assess their impact of importance,
all statements score over 50%
Thus Swedish preschool teacher’s
and children’s understanding are in
accordance with each other
Conclusions
• Both children and preschool teachers understand social
interaction as source.
• The answers in the category; What to learn, are mainly
the same among the Danish and Swedish children.
• In the category How to learn, the children in the
Swedish sample more stress the influence and relations
from adult
• The free-time activities and its importance for learning
are more mentioned among Danish children compared to
Swedish children.
• The children´s views of what they will learn in school
are similar in Sweden and Denmark.
• There are many similarities between Denmark and
Sweden in how the children, as well as the preschool
teacher describe the processes of learning.