Danish Clearinghouse for Educational Research

(Danish School of Education Copenhagen; since 2010: Aarhus University)

The Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA)

Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research

Swedish National Agency for Education

Thomas Moser

Vestfold University College

OECD-Network on Early Childhood Education and Care, Oslo, 25.1.2012

ECEC RESEARCH IN NORWAY AND SCANDINAVIA

MAPPING AND APPRAISAL OF SCANDINAVIAN

RESEARCH IN ECEC INSTITUTIONS (2006-2010)

PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

• Providing a systematic overview of research-based knowledge about Scandinavian early childhood education institutions

• Make Scandinavian research accessible for non Scandinavian researchers, practitioners, policy providers and public (in English)

• Establish a free accessible research database

• Research based knowledge for future policy development (EVA)

• In general practice -, research – and policy development

Systematical mapping

characterizing main

tendencies

Re-description

Description

of main

themes/topics

Implications

for pratice, policy

and research

THE MAPPING PROCESS IN GENERAL

Searching

literature

”Qualifying” the

hits

Following the EPPI-

Centre data extraction

and coding tool for

education studies;

Evidence for Policy and

Practice Information

and Co-ordinating

(EPPI) Centre, Institute

of Education, London

University

3330 references identified

532/582/649/744/823

Reference screening

Screening of titles and abstracts 2751 references excluded

Criteria: wrong institution or

document type

389 documents included

1st phase

Included documents

Reference doublets

190 doublets identified

3140 unique references

Full texts screening

Screening på baggrund af dokumentets tekst

Provided documents 388 documents

128 documents excluded

Criteria: wrong institution or

document type

2nd phase

Included documents

260 documents included

2006: n=52; 2007:5 n=54;

2008: 51; 2009:52; 2010: 51

Search hits

SEARCHING AND IDENTIFYING DOCUMENTS 2006-2010

Systematical mapping

characterizing main

tendencies of 260

studies

Re-description

of 260 studies

(2006-2010)

Description

of specific

themes/topics

on basis of 227

medium and high

quality studies

Implications

for pratice, policy

and research

102 Swedish

75 Norwegian

61 Danish

16 Others/OECD

PROCEDURE - MAPPING AND APPRAISAL

PUBLICATIONS SO FAR http://www.dpu.dk; http://www.eva.dk

2006 52/46

2007 54/46

2008 51/49

2009 52/44

2010 51/42

Pedagogical staff, professionalism, staff competencies (34)

Play, learning and care – curriculum guidelines (20)

Vulnerability, social inequality, inclusion and exclusion (9)

Parents and institutions (9)

Pedagogical staff, professionalism, staff competencies (40)

Parents and institutions (8)

Vulnerability, social inequality, inclusion and exclusion (7)

Play, learning and care – curriculum guidelines (5)

Implementation of legislation and curricula (4)

Health (3)

Play, learning and care – curriculum guidelines (17)

Pedagogical staff, professionalism, staff competencies (14)

Plans and guidelines for pre-school: State and local municipalities (11)

Children’s practices in ECEC institutions; child-child-relations (11)

Vulnerability, social inequality, inclusion and exclusion (8)

Children's development and competencies (17)

Play and learning in ECEC-institutions everyday life (14)

Vulnerability, social inequality, inclusion and exclusion (9)

Gender and Equality (9)

Plans and guidelines for pre-school: State and local municipalities (9)

Physical environment (9)

The active child: Physical activity, play and health in day care (11)

Relationships: competence, interaction, positioning, and socialization (10)

Learning process: Form, content and language (7)

Management and profession: Identity and Roles (7)

Day care as an organization in the community: Evidence, evaluation and content (7)

MAIN TOPICS/FOCUS AREAS NUMBER OF STUDIES

TOTAL 2006 2007 2008 2009 20101)

Teaching and learning 58 11 12 11 12 12

Assessment 37 8 8 11 6 4

Equal opportunities 49 8 5 6 17 13

Curriculum 40 6 5 8 8 13

Organisation & Leadership 29 5 5 6 6 7

Policy 28 7 3 7 5 6

Classroom management 12 4 1 4 2 1

Teaching as a career 8 3 1 1 0 3

Methodology 16 3 1 4 5 3

Other 74 16 25 10 13 10

1) Physical activity, health, play: 10

NUMBER OF STUDIES

TOTAL 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Content in ECE-institutions 85 13 22 15 19 16

Assessment, evaluation, quality assurance and -development

79 23 8 20 14 14

Basic values and ethics 78 16 16 15 14 17

Methods and practices 51 10 7 15 7 12

Purpose, aims and goals of ECE 36 4 13 10 4 5

Work with/based upon governmental/public documents (act; law; curriculum)

24 5 5 5 4 5

RESEARCH ISSUES AND TOPICS – DIDACTIC PERSPECTIVE

NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS

TOTAL 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Description 142 32 25 27 33 35

Exploration of relationships

102 23 31 24 13 11

What works? 40 14 7 10 7 2

Methods development 20 5 3 5 4 3

Reviewing/synthesising research

14 4 2 6 0 2

THE PURPOSE OF RESEARCH IN THE STUDIES

RESEARCH APPROACHES N=326 TOTAL 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Ethnography 88 20 22 16 26 24

Views study 55 5 11 14 14 11

Document study 44 9 9 14 8 4

Cross-sectional study 38 11 7 4 9 7

Case study 36 11 10 1 7 7

Action research 17 5 4 4 3 1

Cohort study 9 1 1 3 3 1

Systematic review 7 2 2 2 1 0

One group pre-post test 6 1 4 0 1 0

Other review (non systematic) 6 2 0 2 1 1

Case-control study 5 1 2 1 0 1

Secondary data analysis 5 2 1 1 0 1

One group post-test only 5 2 3 0 0 0

Experiment -non-random allocation to groups 4 0 1 2 0 1

Experiment - random allocation to groups 1 0 0 0 1 0

SOME PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS • Qualitative, descriptive and explorative studies are predominating

• Ethnography, views studies, document studies and case oriented studies focused on micro-processes.

• Few comparative and intervention studies.

• Main focus on teaching and learning, assessment, equal opportunities and curriculum.

• Little focus on political, social cultural and economical frames and their implications for the practical work.

• Surprisingly little focus on children.

• Inquiries aiming at the family’s social background, economical situation and its implications for the work in preschool institutions are rather rare.

• The caring dimension of the pedagogical work is only examined in a few studies (few studies of the youngest children).

NORDIC BASE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE (ECEC-NB)

ECEC-NB gathers new, quality-assured Scandinavian research on 0-6 year-old children in early childhood education and care.

This database is for all who are interested in pedagogy and in the development of the daycare area, such as teachers, students, researchers, educational managers, consultants or politicians, who want to stay informed or who need qualified input in connection with their work or studies.

The database will be updated annually at the beginning of the year.