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PROGRAM OF SWEDISH-RUSSIAN SEMINAR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT. Organizing for quality Evaluation of the preschool quality - a municipality perspective Ph.D. student and lecturer Karin Lager, University of Gothenburg k arin.lager@ped.gu.se
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PROGRAM OF SWEDISH-RUSSIAN SEMINAR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT Organizing for quality Evaluation of the preschool quality - a municipality perspective Ph.D. student and lecturer Karin Lager, University of Gothenburg karin.lager@ped.gu.se Moscow, 27-29 May, 2014
Curriculum implementation–municipality perspective • The quality of the preschool environment • The teacher– child interaction • Group size The child Development and outcomes • Curriculum implementation
Preschool arenas in Sweden Din text S Society • Society: • The Ministry of Education and Science • The National Agency for Education • The National Agency for School-inspection • Policy, curriculum and guidelines, quality • Policy to evaluate the quality of the learning environment/preschool • Municipality: • Municipalities are responsible on a local level. They organize, lead and evaluate without any national given methods. For good and for bad. Conflicting perspectives and non science based models. • Preschool: • Preschool teachers responsibility create conditions for children’s learning Municipality Preschool
Municipality diversity - Lack of national equivalence • Educational reforms – decentralisation • Restructuring • New governance • Quality and control • National in service training to educate key-persons in municipalities to lead the systematic quality development work. • This national in service training was followed and evaluated by Sonja Sheridan and Karin Lager
The evaluation study • 28 key persons with different professions were followed under one years in service training (two persons from each municipality) • Interviews • Observations • Text document produced by the key persons • Those key-persons were supposed to lead and organize the systematic quality development work in their municipality after the in service training year. • Key-persons: preschool heads, preschool-teachers, development leaders, quality coordinators, teachers for special needs education
Theoretical perspective - translating policy through different contexts Din text S Society • Organisingfor quality • Translating – through contexts • Translators – key persons • Legitimacy • Homogenisation • Institutionalisation Municipality Preschool
Aim To explore organising of systematic quality work in municipalities. To gain knowledge of the participating key-persons, how they organize for quality, how they legitimate and how they work to stabilize their municipalities work with quality.
Research questions • Who are these key-persons and what possibilities do they have to act like key-persons? • What's important for them to talk about in relation to quality work? • Which tensions can be seen in the key persons expressions? • Which strategies do they use to stabilize quality work?
Key-persons as translators • When key-persons with different profession in the same municipality work together they create better possibilities to translate the work with quality and finds more arenas for translating. • Their cooperation is more valuable than their type of profession.
Barriers to stabilise quality work • Achievement of objectives • Different professions in pre-school • Lack of influence and participation • Lack of time and place for discussions • Lack of distribution of responsibility • Rational models
Challenging tensions • School vs. Pre-school • Measurable quality vs. Experienced quality • Profession vs. Politics • Rational chain for control vs. Dialogue, interplay and encounters for development
Strategies to stabilize work with quality • Creating tools • Further education • Crossing borders • Pedagogical discussions • Visualising their work in writing
Conclusions • The key-persons competence, legitimacy and contextual knowledge of pre-school was significant in organising for quality • Boundary objects united people in informal contexts that helped to stabilize the work with quality • The direction of legitimacy was towards other contexts, they searched for new contexts with other agents • When they homogenise it was by creating new arenas for translating • The key-persons work wasn't foremost depended on profession but on conditions.