ABSTRACT
The overall aim of this chapter is to discuss young children’s educational practice in Swedish preschool in relation to my understanding of Jürgen Habermas’ social philosophical perspective and the way he views the world from a double perspective, i.e. both as lifeworld and system. This discussion is of an ontological character and concerns how these two perspectives generate different understandings of educational processes. On a more concrete level this chapter also aims to scrutinise how Habermas’ theoretical concepts of communicative and strategic action can be used to interpret and understand the communication between teachers and young children in preschool. A central issue is how these two communication forms might be rational in different ways and lead to different consequences for teacher and child interactions. An assumption is that these consequences need to be discussed and professionally considered with reference to what and how children are able to learn in preschool. Thus, one starting point for this discussion is taken from Habermas’ theory, focused on how the theory can contribute to the understanding of teacher and child interactions in preschool. It should however be emphasised that this chapter is not intended to defend or advocate a particular theoretical approach or to manifest specific normative statements, but rather to explore how parts of Habermas’ theory can be used to illuminate some central issues in teacher and child interactions. Another starting point is taken from empirical studies, focused on how empirical data of teacher and child interactions in preschool might contribute to developing Habermas’ theory of a communicative action. The discussion is based on four studies about qualities in the communication that might move hierarchical power structures in teacher and child interactions toward a communication characterised by inter-subjectivity and mutual understanding (Emilson and Folkesson, 2006; Emilson, 2007, 2008; Emilson and Johansson, 2009). From these studies three qualities of importance for changing power structures have been revealed: teachers’ closeness to the child’s perspective, their emotional presence and playfulness. Theoretically these qualities are within Habermas’ framework of a communicative action, and one suggestion is that these qualities can contribute
to the understanding of what Habermas’ theory might mean in communication with the youngest children in the educational system. Hence the following questions are in focus for the discussion:
• How can young children’s educational practice be understood from Habermas’ double perspective?
