Parental Reasoning on Choosing the Mobile Preschool: Enabling Sustainable Development or Adjusting to a Neoliberal Society?

Autor/inn/en	Ojala, Maria; Ekman Ladru, Danielle; Gustafson, Katarina
Titel	Parental Reasoning on Choosing the Mobile Preschool: Enabling Sustainable Development or Adjusting to a Neoliberal Society?
Quelle	In: Early Childhood Education Journal, 49 (2021) 3, S.539-551 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Ojala, Maria) ORCID (Ekman Ladru, Danielle) ORCID (Gustafson, Katarina)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1082-3301
DOI	10.1007/s10643-020-01083-z
Schlagwörter	Parent Attitudes; School Choice; Preschools; Mobile Educational Services; Sustainable Development; Neoliberalism; Foreign Countries; Preschool Children; Interpersonal Competence; Discourse Analysis; Middle Class; Sweden + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Elternverhalten; Choice of school; Schulwahl; Mobile Erziehungshilfe; Nachhaltige Entwicklung; Neo-liberalism; Neoliberalismus; Ausland; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Interpersonale Kompetenz; Diskursanalyse; Mittelschicht; Schweden
Abstract	Due to the emergence of new forms of preschools and parents' increased freedom of choice regarding early childhood education, more research on parental preschool preferences is needed. Although preschool offers a seedbed for the development of knowledge and competencies, this development matures through interaction with parents. Therefore, parental expectations and wishes are very likely to affect children's learning. The mobile preschool is a new form of educational practice in Sweden where children travel by bus to different places for play and learning. This form of preschool can potentially lay a foundation for social and ecological sustainability because children learn to meet diverse people, explore different places, and spend time in nature. We interviewed 15 parents of children in a mobile preschool, most from a middle-class background. The main aim was to explore how these parents explain their choice of this type of preschool. Another aim was to identify desirable competencies that the parents think their children will achieve through the mobile preschool. Six themes related to preschool choice were identified; of these themes, "being out in nature" and "enlarging the children's reality" were the most prominent. Two clusters of competencies were distinguished: care- and cooperation-oriented competencies, and freedom- and independence-oriented competencies. After analyzing these results in relation to two current educational discourses--education for sustainable development and entrepreneurship in a neoliberal society--we show how parents participate in reproducing these discourses. These findings add novel and important knowledge to the field of early childhood educational practices concerning parental choice and preferences. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01