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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Educators’ and Parents’ Perspectives About Belonging in Early Years Education in Europe
International journal of early childhood, Vol.57, pp.331-355
08/2025
Appears in Recent Faculty of Education Publications
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Abstract
The overall goal of this project is to gain a broad picture of belonging and the politics of belonging in early education settings (In Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland the children attend school from 6 or 7 years. In the Netherlands children attend compulsory school at 4 years of age. Using the terms early education settings and (pre)schools with parenthesis we refer to educational institutions (preschool, daycare, compulsory school) involving children between 4 and 6 years) in five European countries: Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. By ‘belonging’ we refer to children´s sense of feeling safe and ‘at home’. By ‘politics of belonging’ we refer to societal structures and processes of safeguarding communities and their borders among children (and educators) in their early education settings. Educators (n=648) and parents (n=1,598) were surveyed about their perspectives about, and pedagogies for, belonging. Results indicated that, in general, parents and educators felt positively about belonging in their (pre)schools. Even so the study shows that experiences of belonging cannot be taken for granted, and a number of parents and educators worry about children being excluded and alienated. The study also revealed a relation between the educational level of educators and the complexity of pedagogic methods educators used to support children´s belonging in early education settings.
Details
- Title
- Educators’ and Parents’ Perspectives About Belonging in Early Years Education in Europe
- Creators
- Eva Johansson - University of StavangerJo Lunn - Queensland University of TechnologyChrystal Whiteford - Queensland University of TechnologyPeter Karlsudd - Linnaeus University (Sweden, Kalmar)Anna-Maija Puroila - University of OuluBarbara Piskur - Zuyd University of Applied SciencesSue Walker - Southern Cross UniversityJohanna Einarsdottir - University of Iceland
- Publication Details
- International journal of early childhood, Vol.57, pp.331-355
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Grant note
- This work was supported by NordForsk: Grant number 85644: Politics of belonging: Promoting children’s inclusion in educational settings across borders. The authors would like to acknowledge NordForsk and the support we have received during the project. Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions.
- Identifiers
- 991013232113702368
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2024
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article