Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2011, Qupperneq 93

Uppeldi og menntUn/icelandic JoUrnal of edUcation 20 (2) 2011 93
Jóhanna einarsdóttir
were an important factor in children‘s thinking about their early childhood settings.
The children remembered being content in playschool when they were interacting
and playing with other children. Their accounts of negative experiences involved con-
flicts or problems in interpersonal relationships with other children. Thus the outdoor
area was frequently mentioned as a happy place but also as a place where negative
things happened. When the children talked about the things in playschool that they
found useful when they started primary school, they concentrated on aspects that
they felt had prepared them for the tasks of primary school. These included activities
and projects, the learning of different subject matter, and knowing the rules of school
and proper behavior, and what was expected of them. Although the results of the
study show that the children had many things in common, there were also differences
in their views. So it is not possible to talk about children’s perspectives in general
because they vary and are affected by the social context and key adults. The results of
this study show how the participating playschool teachers and children co-constructed
the playschool experience at the time of the study.
Keywords: Playschool, children’s perspectives, transition to primary school
about thE author
Johanna Einarsdottir (joein@hi.is) is a professor at the School of Education, University
of Iceland. She holds a Ph.D. from University of Illinois in 2000. She has published her
work widely, in journal articles and books, and edited scholarly journals and books in
the field. She is currently the director of the Center for Research in Early Childhood
Education at University of Iceland.