The importance of preschool employees’ individual and shared opinions for 4–6-year-olds’ physical activity in preschool – in light of individual and collective identity

ABSTRACT

Several studies emphasise the preschools’ impact on children’s physical activity, both socially and organisationally. Furthermore, higher levels of physical activity and cardiorespiratory function are associated with better health. Preschool is an important arena for children’s physical activity, as many children spend much time in preschool every day. The present study aims to examine how the preschool employees’ individual opinions and shared opinions can be of importance for practices related to children’s physical activity in preschool. The findings and discussion in this article are based on focus group interviews in three preschools. The data are analysed within an individual and collective identity theory framework. The analysis reveals a variety of opinions, both individual and shared, in each preschool regarding the children’s physical activity, with a stronger connection between the individual and shared opinions in two of the three preschools in the study. This underlines the importance of working for a culture with adaptions to shared values to prevent conflicting interests among employees’ regarding the eagerness to facilitate children’s physical activity.

KEYWORDS:

• Individual identity
• collective identity
• community of practice
• preschool children
• physical activity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).