ERIC Number: EJ1475183
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-3831
EISSN: EISSN-1470-1170
Available Date: 0000-00-00
"We Tend to Underestimate the Children!" -- A Qualitative Analysis of Preschool Teachers' Views on Child-Parent-Teacher Relationship-Building during Preschool Transition
Martina Andersson Søe1; Elinor Schad1; Elia Psouni1
Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, v69 n5 p1097-1112 2025
Upon preschool enrollment, the child-teacher relationship becomes important for the child's continued development. We suggest that parents may be essential in supporting the establishment of such relationships from the first weeks of the child's preschool enrollment, the so-called "introduction process". Recent data indicates that Nordic preschools organize this aspect of preschool introduction differently, but no empirically informed knowledge-base exists on how to best support positive family-teacher interactions. To enrich this sparse topic, we conducted focus groups with Swedish preschool professionals (N = 31) to qualitatively acquire experiences and reflections on child-adult interactions during preschool introduction. Thematic analysis revealed two themes, centering around "emotional security" and the need to "introduce the child" and "the parent(s)." While emphasizing the importance of the parent's presence near the child during the introduction process, dilemmas and conflicting ideas about how to arrange child-adult interactions were revealed, with potential implications for the child's transition and the child-teacher relationship-building.
Descriptors: Teacher Student Relationship, Parent Teacher Cooperation, Preschool Teachers, Preschool Education, Interaction, Student Adjustment, Parent Role, Foreign Countries, Safety, Emotional Response
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden