Föreställningar om barn i förskolan : Granskning av handlingsplaner på förskolan synliggör normer om barns beteende och behov

Sammanfattning

The purpose of this study is to make it visible how children in need of special support are described in action plans, as well as what normative ideas we have about children's behavior and needs at preschool. The aim of the study has been answered with the support of the following questions: How are children in need of special support described? Which power structures or norms become visible in the design of the action plans? Which value-laden words are often used? Our study is a qualitative method where we analyze pre-written documents that are made for children in need of special support at preschool. To support our study, we have chosen to analyze our empirical material from an intersectional perspective, which is an analytical perspective that pays attention to the power structures that exist in our society and what they create for normative ideas about the human being. Based on our analysis, we obtained a result that shows that children are categorized as children in need of special support, when their behavior confuses and worries the staff at the preschool. Our results show how the power structures that exist in our society contribute to normative ideas about how children should be, what they should be able to do, and if children cannot live up to that, it is considered as something deviant. Our results show that preschool staff tend to have normative ideas about children's play, gender, age and ethnicity. Keywords: Documentation, expectations, power structures, norms, categories.