Research topic/aim

Popular culture (henceforth: pop culture) is part of children's everyday expressions in creating social relationships. This study focuses on children's interests and needs as the central starting points of school-age educare (SAEC) centres (Skolverket, 2022), allowing the child to share their interests. This article explores children’s use of play activities as boundary objects, and the transmedial boundary work done in Swedish SAEC centres as children bring their experiences of digital media into SAEC.

Theoretical framework

Previous research indicates the problematic relationship between children’s free time interests and the pedagogical and social mission of the SAEC (see, e.g., Fast, 2007; Sparrman, 2002). Star and Griesemer’s (1989) boundary object concept is utilized here to analyse children’s free time activities as objects that they ‘carry’ from home, and how these objects are negotiated and constructed at the SAEC.

Methodological design

Through field observations in an SAEC centre in southern Sweden, we collected ethnographic field data, together with two groups of children in Years 2-3, aged 8-9, and their teachers and other personnel. In total, 47 children and 7 staff took part in the study. This case study is ethnographically inspired, and fieldnotes have been used for the collection of data, focusing on interaction between children and staff. Based on a thematic analysis, data has been coded, labeled, categorized and thematized (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Expected conclusions/findings

The results demonstrate that children’s digital free-time activities are either ignored, banned, or reconstructed in the SAEC centre as analogue activities, including drawing, dancing, and more. Furthermore, digital activities considered inappropriate due to, e.g., violence or sexual content are ‘cleaned up’ in this process. These results indicate that children’s activities are objects that change to fit within the institutional limitations. Teachers of SAEC need to consider what is required from children adapting to this social arena, and what is lost and gained in the process. If a child’s interest is limited or changed, there is a risk that their interest in the SAEC will drop, or, if the child identifies heavily with the interest, that they will feel personally

unwanted.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

This study is relevant to the educational community as it expands on previous knowledge on the activities of young children in SAEC, providing connections between children’s interests during free time and their institutional activities. These results shed light on how teachers can engage with children’s interests and find new ways to view children’s digital activities.

References:

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.

Fast, C. (2007). Sju barn lär sig läsa och skriva – Familjeliv och populärkultur i möte med förskola och skola (Doctoral dissertation, Department of Educational Sciences). Uppsala University.

Skolverket. (2022). Läroplan för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet – Lgr 22 . https://www.skolverket.se/getFile?file=9718

Sparrman, A. (2002). Visuell kultur i barns vardagsliv: Bilder, medier och praktiker (Doctoral dissertation, Child Studies). Linköping University.

Star, S. L., & Griesemer, J. R. (1989). Institutional Ecology, 'Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39. Social Studies of Science , 19(3) 387-420. https://www.jstor.org/stable/285080