Teacher Professional Learning in Response to Contemporary Challenges in Early Childhood Education and Care
Abstract
The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to generate new knowledge, through the empirical study, of how an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) work team collectively learn about two contemporary challenges in ECEC, by means of a theoretical framework. More specifically, how they learn about the relationship between teaching and play, particularly in relation to children’s digital experiences in play. The thesis is based on a combined research and development project where a work team in preschool were introduced to the theoretical framework Play-responsive early childhood education and care (PRECEC) which has implications for how to understand teaching and play activities in preschool. A sociocultural perspective functions as the theoretical framework of the thesis and the data consists of ten audio and Zoom-recorded focus group conversations which have
been analyzed through Sociocultural Discourse Analysis. The thesis contains three empirical studies where the findings show how reading research articles and watching video-recordings play a central part when the participants appropriate theoretical concepts. The findings also show how time and dialogue based on scientific knowledge matters for the learning process when the work team change their reasoning about the teacher’s role in play. In addition, the findings illustrate how PRECEC, for the participants, mediate an understanding of play and teaching as responsive activities requiring mutual (digital) experiences. This mediating process is discussed as potentially enabling teacher agency. Overall, the findings contribute with new knowledge regarding how an ECEC work team learn about contemporary challenges by means of PRECEC and are therefore discussed in relation to implications for what becomes important when organizing for professional development in ECEC settings.
Link to web site
https://www.ub.gu.se/sv/hitta-material/actapublikationer/kopa-actapublikationer
Parts of work
Stavholm, E, Lagerlöf, P, & Wallerstedt, C. (2021). Appropriating the concept of metacommunication: An empirical study of the professional learning of an early childhood education work-team. Teaching and Teacher Education, 102. 103306 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103306 Stavholm, E., Lagerlöf, P., & Wallerstedt, C. (2022). Re-mediation in Early Childhood Teachers' Reasoning about their Role in Play: An Empirical Study of the Learning Process of a Work Team. Early Years. (Online first). https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2022.2131741 Stavholm, E., Lagerlöf, P., & Wallerstedt, C. (2023). The mediating role of concepts for collective reasoning about integrating play, teaching and digital media in preschool: A potential for enabled agency for early childhood teachers. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 21(4). https://doi-org.ezproxy.ub.gu.se/10.1177/1476718X231179084
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
University
Göteborgs universitet. Utbildningsvetenskapliga fakulteten
University of Gothenburg. Faculty of Education
Institution
Department of Education, Communication and Learning ; Institutionen för pedagogik, kommunikation och lärande
Disputation
Fredag den 12 april 2024, kl. 13.00, BE 015, Pedagogen hus B, Läroverksgatan 15
Date of defence
2024-04-12
emelie.stavholm@gu.se
Date
2024-03-22Author
Stavholm, Emelie
Keywords
Teacher professional learning
Early childhood teachers
Sociocultural perspective
Play
Teaching
Digital technologies
Publication type
Doctoral thesis
ISBN
ISBN 978-91-7963-161-1 (printed)
978-91-7963-162-8 (pdf)
ISSN
0436-1121
Series/Report no.
Gothenburg Studies in Educational Sciences 483
Language
eng