Mealtime in preschool

According to the Swedish National Agency for Education, 2014, the number of children enrolled in preschool has increased during the last ten years. In Sweden, the majority of children, approximately 84 per cent, are enrolled... [ view full abstract ]

According to the Swedish National Agency for Education, 2014, the number of children enrolled in preschool has increased during the last ten years. In Sweden, the majority of children, approximately 84 per cent, are enrolled in preschool, which constitutes the first step of the educational system and embraces children from one to five years of age. In previous research preschool teacher have described the meal as an activity where children are given the opportunity to communicate and interact with adults and other children. Despite this approach, research show that the meal activites often has the character of socialisation and that peace and quiet will play a prominent role.

 The aim with this paper is to examine conditions for children to be active participants during meals in preschool. Questions at issue are: what characterizes situations in which children's agency becomes visible, and how is children's agency expressed during meal situations? The study is theoretically based on a sociocultural perspective and childhood sociology, based on theories from Vygotsky (1978) and Corsaro (2002). Methods used are videoobservations in two preschool departments. Analyses are drawn to examine situations where children act as active participants in during meals in preschool. The results indicate that socialisation plays a prominent role during the meals, and being active participants are limited as the children act, communication and interact according to expectations and discursive rules that seem to be framing the meals in the preschool context. The study follows the Swedish research council guidelines and ethical rules in social science research. Special attentiveness is taken as the research is conducted in preschool settings and concerning young children. The children are continuously given opportunities to withdraw from participating if they so wish.

Keywords: children, preschool, meals, agency.