The pressured preschool?

The project The pressured preschool? is a dissertation project of Maria Lennartsdotter's PhD-project, started in 2019. The dissertation project aims to sheds light on Swedish preschool as it is presented by more than 1000 preschool teachers and childcare minders during #pressatläge.

In international reports, the Swedish preschool has until recently been referred to in terms such as “outstanding” and “an international role model”. In national surveys, it appears that guardians are generally satisfied with the preschool and that pedagogues generally have a positive view of their work. At the same time, a different image of the preschool begins to take shape. Among other things, several research studies showed that educators experience large groups of children and low teacher/children ratios. Further, the working conditions in preschool have changed. The proportion of staff with pedagogical education is decreasing, more pedagogues are on sick leave and an increased amount of staff showing symptoms of mental illness. At the same time there is an increased focus of subject didactics, goal orientation and teaching in preschool policy documents.

Experiences of unsustainable working conditions have further been highlighted in social media. Some preschool teachers have started the Facebookgroup Förskoleupproret, which strive to improve the working situation for educators in Swedish preschools. Today the group has more than 35,000 members. In 2018, the group asked their members to submit stories depicting unsustainable working conditions using #pressatläge.

The work situation in the Swedish preschool is important to explore based on several reasons. Above all, based on the fact that preschool today forms a large part of many families' everyday life, as 86% of all children in Sweden go to preschool. The fact that preschool also has a positive long-term impact on children, both in terms of their mental well-being and school performance, also justifies the importance of explore the teachers' work situation.

The purpose of the project:

The purpose of the dissertation project is to contribute with knowledge about the working situation in Swedish preschool and the impact it has on teachers' professional identity.

Central questions:

-How are changes in preschool's mission and practice described in pedagogues' texts about the preschool's pressured situation?

-How do these changes relate to the pedagogues’ described working conditions?

-Which professional identities emerge in relation to described changes and conditions in pedagogues' texts about the pre-school's pressured situation?

The study:

The study's data consists of texts written by preschool teachers and childcare minders in #pressatläge (pressed situation in English), a hashtag that aims to improve working conditions in Swedish preschools.

Publications:

A turning point from the preschools’ past: A narrative analysis of #pressatläge

The preschool teacher: A caring professional or a rebellious robot?