Rommet for interaksjon om eksistensielle spørsmål i barnehagen

Abstract

This article is a contribution to empirical practice research in the field of kindergarten, studying how a part of the subject area Ethics, Religions and Philosophy in the Framework Plan for Kindergartens – Content and Tasks plays out in the field of practice. In this article the concept “space” will – in addition to being a concept of different social practices that take place in kindergartens – be an expression of the space created in interaction between agents acting with different artefacts, in this case a book about birth rites connected with births in different religions. The data is established through video recording of a planned conversation between a kindergarten teacher and four children in a multicultural kindergarten. Sociocultural theory is used for the analysis of the conversation, interpreted as a trialogical process. The interactions and negotiations between children and staff create “a space of possibilities”. The preschool teacher’s use of tools seldom creates “a space of wondering” that leads to dialogue about existential questions, which was the initial purpose of the planned conversation. Religion in kindergarten is in this article understood as part of the social practice in kindergartens and in this context it belongs to the field of education, as opposed to religious practice in for example churches and mosques.