A key element of this thematic area is to develop knowledge about these phenomena, about the intrinsic value of play, its importance to children’s development and Bildung, and learning as part of a bigger Bildung project. Bildung is here understood as material, formal and categorical.
In research involving the youngest children, emphasis is placed on the Nordic kindergarten tradition with a holistic perspective on children and young people’s everyday lives, upbringing and development – including research on linguistic, cultural and religious diversity.
Some of the research projects address how outsiderness can be combated within the confines of the institutions children and young people encounter daily, in leisure activities and in working life. Others concern how schools, kindergartens and training establishments can contribute to improving children and young people’s quality of life and life skills.
Bildung is incorporated throughout primary and lower secondary teacher education through e.g. research on the content of subjects, life skills, primary education and critical thinking in projects that link Bildung to discipline knowledge, learning and play.
The research addresses questions and issues relating to the development of subject didactics and the interaction between people, disciplines, aesthetics and didactics, as well as artistic development work. Focusing on the content of educational institution programmes sheds light on a broad spectrum of humanistic, social science, natural science, health science and religion and ethics issues.
Important research topics for this area:
- the everyday lives of children
- the Nordic kindergarten tradition
- children, culture and tradition
- children and media
- literacy in kindergartens and schools
- children and childhood presented in cultural texts and aesthetic products
- forms of knowledge, being and participation
- dramatic play
- play as a state of being
- play-based learning during primary education
- linguistic, cultural and religious diversity
- children and nature
- children, health and movement
- food and health
- sustainable development, a sustainable future and sustainable societies
- preventing physical and mental health problems
- bullying and outsiderness
- individual variation and adapted education
- relational competence
- digitalisation, with emphasis on children and young people’s learning in a technology-rich world
- digitalisation’s impact on relationships and interaction
- the relationship between the body, materiality and diversity
- identity, socialisation and body image
- care, well-being and learning
- the transition from kindergarten to school
- participation and learning in inclusive practices
- learning in interaction with aesthetic subjects
Thematic research areas at the Faculty of Education and International Studies
Development, play, Bildung and learning is one of the thematic research areas at the Faculty of Education and International Studies.
Here is an overview of all the thematic research areas at the faculty.
