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The focus of this article is the songs performed by one of Sweden’s oldest bands, Sven-Ingvars. We analyse how meaning is assigned to certain kinds of lives and ways of living in the lyrics of 54 of the band’s most popular songs from the 1960s and onward. We do so with a particular focus on the construction of place and identity within the lyrics. Since previous research about Sven-Ingvars is meager and this article is centered on recurrent patterns and themes in their songs, a quantitative analysis was carried out in order to identify the recurring patterns of words, places, towns, themes, and so on. This is followed by a qualitative text analysis, with a particular focus on the constructed identity of the I – or self – in the lyrics, and the places described. The study shows that the texts are either placed within the geographical area of Värmland or within a more general rural area, both constructed in contrast to urban space and life. The place, as constructed within the lyrics, is distinguished by simplicity and continuity. The people populating this area appear to have lived there for quite some time and are very much familiar with the I within the lyrics. The I in the lyrics is someone who knows the true value of a lifelong monogamous relationship as well as the importance of not stressing about or striving towards wealth or success. The identity of the I is very much embedded within the place. By placing the stories within Värmland, the realistic impression of the lyrics is amplified, but as the places are also commonly framed as a general rural area, they portray places, people and ways of life otherwise rarely represented publicly. By enjoying the present and simple things in life, it’s the people occupying these spaces who have truly found the right way to live their lives.

"Treåring kvarglömd på dagis"

Rubriker som dessa får dig antagligen att stanna upp. Kanske suckar du över att rapporteringen om förskolan så ofta handlar om problem. Kanske skaver benämningen dagis. Och när grannen en stund senare lite skämtsamt frågar varför du behövde läsa vid universitetet för att vinna över fyraåringar i Fånga ballongerna - ja, då knyter du kanske näven i fickan och frågar dig varför omgivningen inte förstår ditt yrke och din organisation.

Går det att omförhandla fördomar om förskolan? Finns det sätt att berätta om ditt arbete som ökar omgivningens förståelse? Kan du i kommunikationen med andra upprätta dig själv som professionell pedagog - och samtidigt öppna upp för vårdnadshavares inflytande? Hur kan du förstå din föräldragrupp och bjuda in till delaktighet, men ibland också markera gränser?

I Kommunikation med vårdnadshavare bygger Linn Eckeskog vidare på slutsatser från sin doktorsavhandling Kommunikation i förskolan, som är en av de mest lästa monografierna i Sverige 2019 och 2020. Med fokus på den medierade kommunikationen varvar Eckeskog forskningsresultat med konkreta övningar. Boken vänder sig främst till yrkesverksamma och studenter vidutbildningar kopplade till förskolan, men resonemangen och råden är även överförbara på fritidshem och skola.

The overall aim of this doctoral thesis is to study communication work among personnel in Swedish pre-schools, with a particular focus on mediated communication with parents. The purpose is also to analyse what roles are given to the professionals in this communication, to identify what subject positions are constructed and to identify how boundaries are managed within the communication practices.

The primary theoretical framework of the thesis is social constructivism and symbolic interactionism. The pre-school organisation and identities are regarded as in a perpetual state of becoming and changes in the media landscape are viewed as rearranging the preconditions for communication practices. Technical innovations are regarded as social products at both ends. Results build upon observations in five pre-schools, interviews with 32 pre-school employees and multimodal analysis of communication material directed to parents. Additional interviews and document studies were conducted in the form of a case study, in order to gain knowledge of the implementation of a digital learning platform.

The study shows that the communication environments differ between pre-schools, e.g. concerning how and which mediums are used. Several obstacles to communication are identified, of which many (but not all) are related to the socioeconomic status of parents. Within the mediated communication, pre-school personnel to some extent position themselves as experts concerning practical and pedagogical questions, whilst parents are positioned as actors in need of guidance. A major function of mediated communication is assigning parents’ responsibilities in relation to the pre-school, along with norms regarding what constitutes the “good” (pre-school) parent. Boundary work in relation to parents is conducted using different modalities, used for hedging but also for establishing professional positions. Digitalisation appears as a negative force when introduced top-down, without regards to the needs, previous practices and preconditions within a particular pre- school; but as a positive force when initiated by the professionals themselves and when responding to particular needs within specific pre-schools. As expectations on digitalisation in pre-schools increase, questions of preconditions and communication skills grow in prominence.

Although expectations on pre-school professionals’ communication skills are high, communication with parents is not sufficiently acknowledged as part of the actual work in pre-schools. A sign of (and reasons for) the under prioritisation of communication work is the uneven and arbitrary preconditions for communicating, in the forms of relevant education, time and technical equipment. The lack of resources can be connected to three issues: A working environment issue (discrepancy between expectations and preconditions), a democratic issue (communication being random rather than planned/ considered) and a professional issue (multimodal communication not reflecting the professional identity that informants strive towards).

Communication with parents (and surrounding society) needs to be acknowledged as part of the work in pre-school, and the personnel need to be given the necessary skills and conditions for communication, in order to provide equality of ac- cess to the parents, but also to give personnel the possibilities of communicating about and reflecting the pre-school organisation as they know it.