Body practices: negotiations of ‘risk’ in Norwegian and French preschools

ABSTRACT

This comparative study of everyday life in Norwegian and French preschools explores how ‘risk’ related to children’s body practices is understood, practised and negotiated by teachers and how this may regulate educational practices in a short- and long-term perspective. Studying educational institutions in two different societies illuminates institutional constraints, normative principles and cultural values influencing everyday practices. Using a polyphonic ethnographic approach, the staff of five settings were invited to react to edited videos of daily life in these settings, and to critically reflect on their own and others’ practices. The results show how the teachers articulated the handling of risks and challenges according to the frames and resources related to children and the adults’ responsibilities. Six different risk-related themes were identified: the risk of illness, injury, restricting children’s bodies and the inability to cope, and risks related to teachers and to pedagogy. These themes also elucidated the different perceptions and values of indoor and outdoor activities through the identification of these risks. Body practices in ECEC appear as socio-political tools to either support or restrict children’s experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Preschools
• body practices
• risk
• comparative study
• France-Norway

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 When we present quotations from our data, we refer to all the members of the staff as ‘teachers’, marked by T, regardless of their formal training and qualification. To indicate that there are different ‘teachers’ taking part in the discussion in the same setting, they are marked with numbers, but the numbers do not correspond to a specific person. As in France practitioners in crèches are not named ‘teachers’ and they refuse this word because it refers to school and academic learning, we will keep the word ‘practitioner’ when it is specially the case.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by bilateral Erasmus programme between France and Norway; Oslo Metropolitan University.