Preschool and home partnerships in Sweden, what do the children say?

Abstract

The Swedish preschool curriculum places strong emphasis on the home – preschool partnership and parent engagement in this regard is considered important for reasons such as promoting child well-being and a healthy development. The central target of inquiry of this study was thus to explores the three primary perspectives that interconnect in the preschool – home partnership (child, parent, teacher) and applies this exploration in order to better understand what parent engagement in preschool means to the child. Central to the study was determining the child’s position within the partnership, thus the theoretical framework of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory was applied. Stories were collected through interviews which highlighted the interconnectedness of the three perspectives and analysed using story constellations. Through identifying harmonies and contradictions in the stories, the construct of children’s, parents and preschool teachers understanding of parent engagement in the Swedish preschool has been investigated, shedding light on the child’s sense of agency within the partnership.