All articles

The research questions of the article are: What takes place in the professional cooperative work of including children with special needs in kindergartens and in counteracting exclusive process? How are views on children and ethics expressed through practice and in reflections on practice among the staff in kindergarten? What constitutes ‘pedagogical presence’ ‘attentive love’ and children’s participation in developing pedagogical practice A common understanding of these concepts are highlighted by Fromm’s understanding of ‘be-mode’ and ‘have-mode’ as different modes of orientation toward ourselves and the world. The article draws on critical social theory on preschool education and is based on empiric findings from ethnographic studies in two kindergartens. While planning and regulating the practice according to a biased view on ‘what children need’ earlier were main topic in the kindergartens studied, now concentration on listening to and ‘reading’ the children is focused, and thus expansion of the interests and questions the children themselves bring in is facilitated. The new practice can be seen as a resistance movement against the growth of an instrumental and technical approach to preschool education the last years.