KINDERGARTEN KNOWLEDGE - Centre for Systemic Research on Diversity and Sustainable Futures

BARNkunne [KINDknow] is a research centre for kindergarten-relevant research at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. The center continues to develop an integrated research area that studies the content, activities, and practice conditions for kindergartens and kindergarten teacher education. We deepen knowledge and initiate activities aimed at improving the quality of Norwegian kindergartens. The center has a unique vision, and the main goal is to contribute to new knowledge and new practices in under-researched areas related to local and global goals for education for sustainable futures. We collaborate across institutions and organizations and initiate activities at the center aimed at analyzing, exploring, creating, and renewing practices. In this way, we are an active provider of premises and contributors to strengthening the content quality in Norwegian kindergartens. We established as a research center with support from the Research Council in 2018 and have since established ourselves as an active center for kindergarten research. This has happened in close collaboration with partners at UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, the University of Stavanger, and multiple kindergarten owners and other institutions in Norway. We have established close collaborations with actors internationally, in several parts of the world. We have international partners in various externally funded projects. Researchers at the centre have taken responsibility and been trusted and honoured, evident in key roles, awards, and lectures. Research results have been disseminated, and some have impacted changes in teaching content in the education sector, particularly in master's and doctoral education and in continuing and further education. The centre gathers several PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and senior researchers. They are spread across various campuses at HVL and linked to collaborating institutions. To strengthen research, BARNkunne has associated itself with distinguished international researchers. A key focus has been to create a close and stimulating research environment across large geographical distances, primarily through digitalization, as well as developing and seeking externally funded projects. The centre has an extensive portfolio of externally funded projects and continues this focus. We have emphasized that our projects should address current societal challenges and have a sustainability profile in content and practice. We develop and renew practice and theory systematically and design research together with the users of the research when appropriate. The research deepens knowledge within three main areas: 1. Movement, play, and exploration 2. Systemic leadership and conditions for children in kindergarten 3. Pedagogical innovation and co-creation Researchers at BARNkunne are also involved in education at all levels from bachelor's to doctoral education. The environment hosts the Research School NORBARN. Together with partners from both the labor market inside and outside academia, we focus on research skills and other knowledge that a kindergarten researcher possesses and that the labor market benefits from. Together with the University of Stavanger and OsloMet, we also host and have editorial responsibility for the Nordic Early Childhood Education Research scientific journal. Our projects have high-quality visual and multimodal communication, partly to meet and overcome language barriers in collaboration and dissemination and to reach children, staff, parents, cultural institutions, and higher education. In this context, the centre has a website https://www.hvl.no/om/barnkunne/, a YouTube channel, and a Facebook and LinkedIn page. The projects MoveEarly and EX-PED-LAB also have their own digital resource pages for collaborators in the kindergarten sector, which will be opened to everyone after a trial period. BARNkunne researchers are also developing more tailored competency packages in close collaboration with kindergarten owners and other clients.

BARNkunne [KINDknow] conducts pioneering work related to research, knowledge development and innovation to promote sustainable futures based on the interests of children and the kindergarten. The vision is: Kindergarten research for a fairer and more sustainable future for our children. The mission statement is: BARNkunne conducts outstanding research, knowledge development and innovation and is an attractive collaboration partner and premise supplier for the Early Childhood, Care and Education sector Thematically the centre works with ventures such as - Research into the interfaces between exploration, play and movement in kindergarten - Research into systemic leadership and conditions for all children in kindergarten - Pedagogical innovation and cross-disciplinary co-creation. It builds on existing research done by the researchers who will participate in KINDKNOW in these areas and develop new collaborations with researchers and other stakeholders. To meet the needs of Norway's increasingly diverse society, this centre engages in vital, socially-relevant and ethically-committed research that intends to improve future lives and outcomes for children, families and staff in kindergartens. To achieve its aim, the centre engages in high-level interdisciplinary research with kindergartens and beyond across diverse regions in Norway and internationally. As sustainability is a recognised, global core value, now included in the new Norwegian curriculum for kindergartens, there is a need for new theorisation and research methodologies, particularly participatory research methodologies for research studies that will inform practice. The centre expands knowledge on changes in kindergarten government, organisation and leadership on different levels and in diverse settings. The centre is located at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL), but collaborates with researchers at HVL, UiT and UiS. These institutions have large cohorts of kindergarten preservice teachers, located in two counties in the north and three counties in the west, have common strategic interests and cooperate closely to changing social and environmental milieus. The centre's work will be informed by Bildung, which has formed the background to the research and PhD programme at HVL. Different conceptual, methodological and partnership models will be combined to improve understanding and create new knowledge so that kindergartens can meet the methodological knowledge needs of kindergartens, build competence in kindergartens, and meet the staff that teach kindergarten teachers.