The professional assignment, time and space

What is the most important task for the Swedish ECEC institutions? This was posed as an open question to professionals and student teachers in a questionnaire, and the participants were given the opportunity to rank three of... [ view full abstract ]

What is the most important task for the Swedish ECEC institutions? This was posed as an open question to professionals and student teachers in a questionnaire, and the participants were given the opportunity to rank three of the most important tasks for preschool. Both professionals and student teachers ranked and valued safety and security as the most important task for preschool and for their own assignment. They agreed on that preschool should represent and constitute a space for caring, safety and security.

In our presentation we relate the results from the study to the theoretical standpoint that ECEC is a place (or different places), historically located in time and space. The views of professionals and student teachers are in our presentation contradicted to the conceptions of the ECEC space that are expressed in policy documents and official public sector texts - which emphasises ECEC as a space for learning and knowledge, development and health. We discuss this as a conflict embedded in preschool practice, and relate the results to time and space.

Key words: The assignment, safety and security, place/space, historically located.