Everyday environments and activities of children and teachers in Swedish preschools

ABSTRACT

How preschool teachers and children spend their time in preschool sets the stage for child engagement and learning. To describe characteristics of environments and activities and to compare child engagement in indoor and outdoor free play, systematic observations of children and teachers were performed in 78 Swedish preschool units. Results showed that indoor and outdoor free play were the main activity settings. Children interacted as much with other children as with teachers. The content focus was dominated by non-pretend play, construction, art and music, followed by pretend play and academic contents. Child engagement was significantly higher in free play indoors compared to outdoors. Teachers engaged in varied tasks, but their central task was managing. Teachers were typically in proximity to small groups of children, or by themselves, and mostly talked to or listened to a single child. Findings are discussed in relation to the preschool curriculum and future research needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Preschool
• activity
• free play
• engagement
• observation
• environment

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Swedish preschools and children who took part in the study and made the study possible. We would also like to thank Anna Karin Axelsson, PhD, and Maria Hultin, BSc, for their participation in the data collection, and to the instrument team at Vanderbilt University, U.S, who provided guidance in the data collection and analysis.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The results of the current study is based on the data-set by Åström & Sjöman (2020). The data are openly available upon request in Swedish National Data Service at https://snd.gu.se/en. doi:10.5878/8rsx-5w70. Reference number 2019-219.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by FORTE under [grant number 2013-00163]; the National Board of Health and Welfare, and the Swedish Research Council under [grant numbers 2016–05555 and 2018 6995].

Notes on contributors

Frida Åström

Frida Åström is a doctoral student in Disability Research. Her research is focused on the ECEC environments and activities that provide the conditions for children's participation, both in an international and in a Swedish perspective, with a special focus on children in need of special support.

Eva Björck-Åkesson

Eva Björck-Åkesson is a professor of Special Education. Her research is focused on special education, early intervention and ECEC. Special interests are inclusion in early childhood education and participation of young children in preschool.

Madeleine Sjöman

Madeleine Sjöman is Ph.D. in Special Education. Her research of interest is on engagement for children in need of special support in early childhood and natural contexts such as preschool and school settings. Her professional background is teacher and special educator.

Mats Granlund

Mats Granlund is a professor of Disability Research and Psychology. His research is focused on everyday functioning of children and youth with disabilities or in need of special support, and their immediate environments. He is the leader of the research environment CHILD.