How can preschool teachers approach multiplicity and complexity in the preschool? The aim of this article is to discuss two approaches to education, one based on design and the other on open reflection, and to propose 'situational sensitivity' as a concept connected within the latter approach. Special attention is paid to the ethical encounter with the child. The first approach is characterised by learning study, didactic analysis, advocate planning, and educational designs, and is guided by a logic which reduces multiplicity. The second approach to education, exemplified here in the 'Wondering Together' project, stresses a more open, reflective attitude that welcomes multiplicity. I argue that situational sensitivity is an expression of that open, welcoming logic. Situational sensitivity supports the concept of bildung, the development of the whole person, by educating towards the knowledge necessary for understanding the world and by honouring the child's experience and perspective. IntroductionPreschool teachers interact daily with children and families with a multiplicity of ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as a complex variety of learning strategies. Against this background, the aim of this article is to discuss and problematise two approaches to education, one based on design and the other on open reflection, and to propose 'situational sensitivity' as a concept connected within the latter approach. The main question is, how can preschool teachers approach multiplicity and complexity in the preschool? Special attention is paid to the ethical encounter with the child.Learning study and didactic analysis are discussed as examples of the first approach, and are contrasted to the reflective approach, characterised by bildung, ethics, and the philosophical pedagogy of Reggio Emilia -a 'counter-language' that ties the potential of education to its ability to contribute to wider perspectives and alternative understandings (Gustavsson 2009). How we see the world and how we think the world should be presented to children give rise to new pedagogical ideas about child-raising and education, and two main pedagogical approaches are developing in school and preschool. The first, often described as new or neo-liberal, is connected to a discourse oriented to growth and the market economy, and emphasises the needs of EU citizens for new basic knowledge and competence to be able to develop the world's most competitive

The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the transdisciplinary exploration of children in constructing the choreography of the "Dance of the Dinosaurs", with mathematics being one of the disciplines used.Central questions explored were: 1. What form did the children's transdisciplinary exploration take? 2. What could be learned about the mathematical understanding of the children? and 3. What problems emerged during the process and how did the children respond to these? The study is an example of dialogical research, providing a bridge between post-modern and modern theories and approaches. Deconstructive dialogue, imagination, and rhizomatic thinking are central concepts in the theoretical framework. The empirical material consists of six-hour video-taped material. The study found that the children explored and identified new problems, which they then critically reflected and called in question. Time, space, shape, size, numbers, and patterns emerged in their mathematical work. The children cooperated with each other during the problem-solving process and looked for further challenges.

This study is about two educators (tutors) who are responsible for management and development in a preschool and their accounts in connection with the project "Metamorphosis: Children, Educators, Companies, and Local Municipality in Collaboration for a Sustainable Development". The project is based on a philosophy concerning children, citizenship, and the preschool as a place of sharing values and doing democracy, which posits that cooperation within a local municipality could be a way to contribute towards sustainable development. Surplus materials from companies are being put to use, and work done in co-operative efforts among participants of varying ages is seen as a part of "lifelong learning". The objective of this study is to highlight the meaning and importance of "conveying of identity" the educators place on themselves in their work as tutors in doing democracy. Ultimately, the study is expected to contribute to the knowledge of the tutorial work of educators in connection with this project.It is a narrative study, taking a social constructional perspective, based on the principle that meaning and significance are created through linguistic communication in a certain cultural and historical context. The empirical material consists of the two educators' own "reflecting diaries" and interviews focusing on the significance the pedagogues put on themselves in this context. Data collection was carried out over the course of one year. The preliminary result of the study is a meta-story titled "Wanting to Achieve Something Together With Others", which relates Sara's accounts, and "Cooperation and I" based on Annika's story. The educators' shared philosophy concerning children, citizenship, and doing democracy seems to play an important part in their reflections and in the significance they attribute to themselves.