Compensating for unequal childhoods: practitioners’ reflections on social injustice in leisure-time centres

Abstract

In Sweden and other countries, children's everyday lives and educational opportunities depend on their living conditions and class backgrounds. The current study examined the manifestation of issues of social injustice and unequal childhoods in the daily practices of leisure-time centres in Sweden. The empirical data were derived from the written reflections of practitioners enrolled in a continuing education course. The results indicate that leisure-time centres play an important role by compensating for unequal childhoods and other inequalities in the society. The practitioners discussed the importance of the centres' maintaining supplies of clothing and equipment for children who lack these essentials for participation in outdoor activities. This compensation for unequal childhoods was also expressed through the provision of a free snack every afternoon and free meals during excursions.

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“…As such SAE has a compensatory role, which has also been identified in other studies, for instance Andishmand (2017) and Hjalmarsson and Odenbring (2019). In this study, it was not social injustice in terms of pupils' needs for proper clothes for outdoor activities, or extra snacks that needed to be addressed, as identified in Hjalmarsson & Odenbring (2019). Rather, this issue was similar to that described in Andishmandi's study (2017) in which the pupils lacked basic social skills.…”

“…This is a kind of care that in the past would have been provided at home. As such SAE has a compensatory role, which has also been identified in other studies, for instance Andishmand (2017) and Hjalmarsson and Odenbring (2019). In this study, it was not social injustice in terms of pupils' needs for proper clothes for outdoor activities, or extra snacks that needed to be addressed, as identified in Hjalmarsson & Odenbring (2019).…”

“…They argue for the need to widen the concept of "care", allowing it to cover a broader range of teachers' work that traditionally might not be associated with care. In a study by Hjalmarsson and Odenbring (2019), it was showed that SAE teachers supplied proper clothes and specific equipment for outdoor activities, as well as snacks for excursions and afternoon snacks, something which was considered particularly important, as not everyone was served evening meals at home. Andishmand (2017) describes how the staff at one centre, situated in an area with large linguistic diversity and social problems, considered it important to compensate for social inequalities.…”

Gender and social class in Nordic early childhood educational ethnography – a meta-analysis

“…Providing early childhood education for all children has been and still is an important part of how equal rights and educational policies are framed in the Nordic countries. Secondly, an equal educational system plays an important role in compensating for unequal childhoods and educational inequalities (Hjalmarsson & Odenbring, 2019;Sernhede & Tallberg Broman, 2014). Ignoring issues of social justice as they apply to gender and social class in ethnographic research is therefore problematic.…”

Fritidshemspersonals tal om barns fysiska aktivitet – samhällelig påverkan och möjliga implikationer

“…Där nämns att fritidshemmen har ett kompletterande uppdrag i förhållande till skolan, och enligt läroplanen ska detta ske genom att undervisning i fritidshem i hög grad ska vara situationsstyrt, upplevelsebaserat och grupporienterat samt utgå från barns behov, intressen och initiativ (Skolverket, 2022). Fritidshemmen har i likhet med övrig skolverksamhet även ett kompensatoriskt uppdrag där undervisningen ska väga upp för sociala och ekonomiska skillnader, samt barns skiftande förutsättningar att tillgodogöra sig utbildning (SFS 2010:800;Skolverket, 2022;Hjalmarsson & Odenbring 2019;Andishmand, 2017). Dessutom belyser flera studier att verksamheten även påverkas av en övergång från en historiskt dominerande socialpedagogisk omsorgsdiskurs (där verksamheten skulle komplettera hemmet), mot en allt tydligare kunskapsdiskurs (för att komplettera skolan) präglad av senare decenniers utbildningsreformer där skolhuvudmän såsom kommuner och fristående skolor givits möjlighet att påverka verksamhetens utformning.…”