This study examined talk by parents about the early years transitions of their children (n = 7) in the context of parental non-standard working hours and Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Parents were interviewed at three time points: when their child was aged one, four, five or six years (a total of 21 interviews). The third interview was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article focuses on the children's ECEC transitions and the interpretative frames used by parents when talking about their work and childcare. The frames used by the parents to discuss the children's transitions were stabilising the children's lives, balancing between staying at home and attending ECEC and adjusting to norms and rules. The diversity of families' experiences and their children's transitions during the early years should be considered when developing family policy and ECEC services. K E Y W O R D S childcare arrangements, COVID-19 pandemic, discourse analysis, early childhood education and care, early years transitions, horizontal transitions, life transitions, non-standard working hours, vertical transitions
This article examines the local evaluation and assessment practices of Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) based on Actor–Network Theory (ANT). We employ the concept of translation to discuss how evaluation and assessment practices unfold in networks and how actors come together in negotiations and contestations that seek to orient these networks. ANT approaches society as being formed of networks and directs attention to non-human actors, such as technical and material resources. In this article, we discuss how local evaluation and assessment networks are formed by translations connecting different actors. This article examines three cases in which various assessment tools were used locally by Finnish ECEC. The results highlight the arbitrariness and elasticity of the networks in the translation process. Thus, we introduce the concept of democracy of translation to examine the flexibility of assessment networks and the extent to which actors in these networks can re-negotiate and re-orient the practices taking place.
Throughout the 2000s, keen global interest has been shown in early years policies, especially early childhood education and care (henceforth ECEC or early education). Such actors as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the European Union have played a central role in the international debate and produced recommendations and policy goals
Kunnilla on laissa säädetty velvollisuus antaa huoltajille tietoa erilaisista varhaiskasvatuksen vaihtoehdoista. Tätä tiedottamista kutsutaan palveluohjaukseksi. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan huoltajan ja kunnan palveluohjauksen työntekijän välisiä puhelinkeskusteluja. Palveluohjauskeskusteluja tutkitaan institutionaalisen vuorovaikutuksen näkökulmasta. Institutionaaliselle vuorovaikutukselle on ominaista osallistujien roolien muotoutuminen vuorovaikutuksen edetessä (esim. Drew & Heritage, 1992). Artikkelissa kiinnitämme huomion vuorovaikutukseen osallistujien tiedollisiin suhteisiin hyödyntämällä tietämisen alueen käsitettä (Heritage, 2012). Artikkelissa tutkitaan, miten palveluohjauksen työntekijän tiedollinen asema rakentuu vuorovaikutuksessa huoltajan kanssa ja minkä tiedon tulkitaan keskusteluissa kuuluvan työntekijän tietämisen alueeseen. Aineisto koostuu varhaiskasvatuksen palveluohjauksen puhelinkeskustelujen tallenteista (n=24), joiden analyysi pohjaa diskurssianalyyttiseen tarkasteluun. Työntekijän tietämisen alueen kuvataan muodostuvan tiedon tarjoamisen, tiedonannon vaiheittaisuuden ja tietämisen oikeutuksen kokonaisuudesta. Tiedon tarjoaminen ja samalla työntekijän ammatillisen tietämisen alue käsitti kunnan varhaiskasvatuspalveluita koskevan perustiedon. Lisäksi siihen katsottiin kuuluvan huoltajien työtilanne, minkä seurauksena puhelinkeskusteluja sävytti työelämäorientoituneisuus. Sen sijaan niihin ei juurikaan sisältynyt keskustelua lapsesta.
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