Umeå universitets logga

Research topic/aim: This paper aims to explore 3-5-year-old children’s preschool practices in Sweden. The focus is to unfold what emerges in free play situations, and how it is enacted. The entangled relationships between human and non-human actors are analysed, assuming that realities and meanings are actively co-constructed rather than predetermined. Theoretical framework: The field of research about phenomena in preschool through postqualitative approaches is growing in Sweden and beyond (Aronsson, 2019; Giamminuti, Merewether & Blaise, 2022). Children’s play is one phenomenon that is explored in that field (Black Delfin, 2021; Haus, 2020). The study embraces a sociomaterial framework to examine early childhood education (ECE) (Fenwick & Edwards, 2019). Methodological design: Situated within a postqualitative inquiry paradigm (St Pierre, 2021), methodology drawing on actor-network theory (Latour, 2005, Law, 2004), posthumanism (Barad, 2007) and new materialism (Coole & Frost, 2010) is used. Data produced are fieldnotes and sound recordings during visits over four months in two preschools. 

Expected findings: The study is expected to provide insights into how play emerge and is enacted in different ways within preschool practices in early childhood education (ECE). The findings are expected to offer a nuanced understanding of how play is negotiated and experienced in everyday preschool life. 

Relevance to educational research: The relevance to ECE practice and educational research lies in the study's the knowledge contribution by exploring play situations by challenging and rethinking the way we approach and research children’s preschool practice and play. By examining free play situations as a sociomaterial phenomena, the study seeks to contribute with insights that may be discussed in relation to other research within the fiels of education.