MBH4000 Early childhood education and care as a research area Course description

Knowledge of recent research on children and early childhood education and care (ECEC) is essential to be able to contribute to enhancing this field of practice. This course provides a historical overview of ECEC research and presents the most recent research about children's everyday lives and ECEC centres as an institution in society. The course will provide insight into current research projects at the Department of Early Childhood Education and draw close thematic links to everyday activities in ECEC centres. ;

Early childhood education and care as a research area also looks at how different governing documents and plans influence ECEC centres, and their staff and the children who attend them, and presents different directions in ECEC research, arts research and research ethics.

None

Knowledge

The student;;

• has an advanced understanding/knowledge of children’s everyday lives in ECEC centres, as well as of the ECEC centre as an institution in society
• has in-depth knowledge of ECEC as a research area;
• has in-depth knowledge of scientific and artistic approaches to the field of ECEC
• has in-depth knowledge of current research and knowledge development in ECEC in a historical and current perspective

Skills

The student;

• can analyse recent ECEC research with particular weight on issues relating to children’s everyday lives in ECEC centres: play, learning, care, well-being, organisation and management
• can analyse relevant issues on the basis of ECEC research
• can analyse and take a critical approach to different research methods and research designs

General competence

The student;

• can analyse relevant research ethics issues related to ECEC research
• can apply knowledge of Norwegian and international ECEC research to structure, formulate and disseminate scholarly arguments;

Barnehagen i Norge har siden de første etableringer vært gjenstand for debatt og forhandlinger. Barnehagepedagogikk og hvem som framstår som premissleverandører for barnehagens innhold og arbeidsmåter, er i stadig endring. Kunnskap om, og kritiske refleksjoner over barnehagepedagogiske grunnspørsmål, danner basis i emnet.

Perspektiver på barnehagens rolle som pedagogisk institusjon i et komplekst og foranderlig samfunn utfordres i studiet. Forskning om barns vilkår i barnehager sees i lys av politiske prosesser både lokalt og globalt. Den norske og nordiske barnehagemodellen drøftes ut fra samfunnspolitiske endringer og i et komparativt perspektiv. Emnet belyser barnehage-læreres rolle i forsknings- og samfunnsdebatter om profesjonens posisjoner og barnehagens funksjoner og innhold. Kunnskap om, og refleksjon, over didaktiske spørsmål med relevans for barnehagepedagogikken i vid forstand, vil vektlegges i studiet. Pedagogisk filosofi, idehistorie og utvidet forståelse av pedagogiske kjernebegreper som lek, læring og omsorg som grunnpilarer i barnehagepedagogikk, vil danne grunnlag for kritiske diskusjoner.

Studentene skal utvikle forståelse for sentrale utfordringer knyttet til profesjon og yrkesetikk. En viktig del av emnet er å reflektere over og analysere barnehageforskning og sentrale styringsdokumenter.

Teaching activities comprise lectures, seminars, seminar group work, supervision, practical work and assignments between the teaching sessions. Work in seminar groups and between sessions will be related to relevant issues that have emerged in connection with the teaching activities. This work, along with the supervision, is intended to support the students’ work on the exam, and students are expected to participate in seminar groups and submit assignments between teaching sessions.;

At least two individual or group supervisory sessions related to the semester paper, lasting about 10 minutes each.

The exam comprises an individual written semester paper based on the required coursework with a scope of about 4,000 words (+/- 10%).;

Resit/rescheduled exams;

Resit/rescheduled exams are organised in the same way as ordinary exams. Students can submit a reworked version of the semester paper for the first resit or rescheduled exam. A new assignment must be submitted for subsequent attempts. It is the student’s responsibility to register for any resit/rescheduled exams by the deadline.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Pass/fail

The exam will be assessed by two internal examiners. External programme supervisors are appointed to evaluate the coherence of the programme as a whole and the exams in each individual course.