PARENT ENGAGEMENT IN SWEDISH PRESCHOOLS A narrative inquiry through the conceptual lens of proximal processes

Abstract

Aim: There is an overall heavy emphasis on establishing strong teacher-parent relationships in the Swedish National Curriculum for Preschools and parent engagement in this regard, is considered important for reasons such as promoting child well-being-, healthy development-, socialisation- and learning through play. The central target of inquiry in this study was thus to investigate children- and adults’ understanding of parent engagement in Swedish preschools through the conceptual lens of proximal processes and explore how this may or may not affect child well-being and development Theory: The importance of understanding children’s learning as embedded in the social, cultural and family contexts in which it occurs contributes to the overall consensus that children will, in a well-being-, development- and learning perspective, do better with parents who are actively engaged in their children’s pedagogical life. Thus, designing pathways in order to develop the communication between home and preschool is considered a significant factor in children’s developmental outcomes. Against this background, the thesis applied the theoretical framework of the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, adding also the ‘bioecological’ aspect in order to incorporate proximal processes in both execution and analysis. The theory defines six layers of environment, each which are considered imperative in understanding the wholeness of a child’s development. Method: The study assumed a transformative worldview and a narrative design was applied in order to determine how the participants personally experience parent engagement. Stories were collected through interviews, then assembled into case-studies which highlighted the interconnectedness and bi-directional nature of the stories, illuminating also story constellations as method of analysis. Results: Through identifying harmonies and contradictions in the stories, the thesis has investigated the construct of children’s-, parents- and preschool teachers understanding of parent engagement in the Swedish preschool and from that perspective identified where the stories align and where they contradict, thus broadening the academic debate in regard to how parents and teachers can better prepare themselves for the dialogues within the micro-societies that their children’s immediate world consists of.