Searching for quality: Relations, play and learning in different group compositions in day care centers for children under the age of three

The research project Searching for Qualities (2012-2017) is dealing with the following theme; how does quality manifest itself in kindergarten for children under the age of 3? Research Different approaches in researching quality for the very young: Qualitative approaches: "Eyes for walking", "The aesthetic interview", "Small children's everyday life in kindergartens - participation, belonging and dignity", "Aesthetic learning", "Meals - more than food" and "Who knows best where the shoe pinches?". Quantitative approaches: General quality investigated with the tool ITERS-R (Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scales - Revised Edition) and interaction quality studied with the Dutch tool CIP (Caregiver Interaction Profile Scales). In addition Kantar TNS made a survey to parents with children under the age of three that attend kindergarten. NSD WebSurvey has through two surveys gathered information from pedagogical leaders and head of kindergartens. Other activities Methods get a critical attention especially in "Investigation of supporting peer-relations: A critical view on the ITERS-R scale", "Music - with ITERS-R as a lens", and "Where have all the toys gone?". The project has two doctoral students: "Together strengthen we the group - a multi methodical study on the teacher as a pivot concerning caring related to the youngest children" (2018) and "Be Present" - installation in the kindergarten (2019). Associated researchers have been studying the outside environment as well as interactions within the process of creating art. The project publishes to anthologies; "Blikk fra barnehagen" (2016) and "Blikk for Barn" with 25 articles out of which ten is written by earlier masterstudents associated to the project in addition to a special issue (2018) of Nordic Early Childhood Education Research with 8 articles. In spring 2016 a tour was organized with researchers from Searching for Qualities in cooperation with county administrations in different parts of Norway where results were presented for more than 3000 in the kindergartenfield. Three conferences were arranged: One at Månefisken in Oslo, and two national conferences at Oslo Metropolitan University; 26. - 27. October 2015 "Good enough? Perspectives on Quality", and 10.-11. October 2017, the end conference "Eye for Children - in retrospective". Outcome General quality in 206 Norwegian toddler groups is on a minimum level. Kindergartens for the youngest children has weaknesses concerning well-being, security and developmental support. Structural factors as education, ratio and group-sizes seem to create prerequisites for processual quality. There is a reason for concern for the interaction quality in Norwegian kindergartens that might influence children's well-being, learning and development in a wide sense (CIP). Eye for Wandering Children's wandering emerges as multifaceted and is related to children's individual traits and the context. The environment is important for children's exploring and mobility. When staff is absent, the level of conflicts among the children escalates and the situation is getting chaotic. This is often in combination with lack of available toys, a limited area and few adults available. Wandering can be seen as a visible and audible expression for children's experiences in the daily life in kindergartens. The Aesthetic Interview The term emotional knowledge is relevant for children under the age of three. The children have aesthetic and social interactions around musical instruments and in other aesthetic activities where the non-verbal communicate who they are, what they feel, what they think, and can. Aesthetic interview is a suitable method in toddler research. Young children's limited verbal competence reveal that aesthetic approaches are important in research. Who knows best where the shoe itches? As shown in other research our data reveal that daily life in kindergartens can be logistic challenging. Small children's need for calm, to predictability and stable relations are challenged. The kindergarten as an arena for togetherness and reciprocity seems underfocused, while the kindergarten is an collective arena where children can experience being excluded. Aesthetic learning Pedagogical leaders claim that aesthetic subjects are important for learning, formation, self-esteem, co-operation and language. Song, dance, drama and arts happens both as planned activities and as random activities. There is a relation between how much time pedagogical leaders use with these subjects and personally spent time experiencing artistic activities. Aesthetic learning is about form, through creation of form interaction between child/child and child/adult is a prerequisite.

Significant changes in day care institutions the last years in Norwegian society (i.e. increased number of smaller children, larger entities) represent challenges at many levels, and there is a need for enhancement of qualifications in practice, education and research field. This project aims to generate research-based knowledge about quality of daily life in Norwegian day care institutions for children under the age of three, and to develop tools for researching, evaluating and enhancing quality in day care for the youngest children. An important issue is to examine to what extent different group compositions affect the quality in relation to care, social relations, play and learning for small children in day care. Development of qualitative good day ca re institutions calls for up-dated and practice-based knowledge about the actual situation in day care. There is a need for development of relevant knowledge from the practice-field that is closely interlinked with competent preschool-teacher education. T he main goal in this project is to examine and analyze central aspects of daily life in day care. The focus will be daycare as a context for care and learning processes in order to develop an optimal basis for practice in ECEC and as a basis for education of future teachers. For children under three, aesthetic activities are important ways of interacting and learning; and aesthetic learning will be given specific attention in this project. This complex research-focus demands multifaceted theoretical pers pectives and a combination of different methodological approaches. The research project will consist of a main project (see project-description) and several co-projects that will be developed during the research process in close relation between researche rs, students and field of ECEC practice.