Supporting Children's Psychosocial Well-Being in sami ECECs

Our aim is to investigate how Sámi early childhood education and care institutions (ECECs) contextualise their work to support psychosocial well-being among children aged 4–6. We have conducted seven qualitative interviews among ECEC educators. Using Stepwise Deductive Induction (SDI) analysis we fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Barn – forskning om barn og barndom i Norden
Main Authors: Bjerklund, Monica, Åmot, Ingvild
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cappelen Damm Akademisk 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30122
https://doi.org/10.23865/barn.v41.5481
Description
Summary:Our aim is to investigate how Sámi early childhood education and care institutions (ECECs) contextualise their work to support psychosocial well-being among children aged 4–6. We have conducted seven qualitative interviews among ECEC educators. Using Stepwise Deductive Induction (SDI) analysis we found that Sámi ECECs contextualise their work to support psychosocial well-being among children by constantly balancing between dealing with the possible consequences of Norwegianisation and the assimilation process from the past and highlighting Sámi culture in a positive way. In practice the staff try to support the children’s positive sense of self, recognition and feeling a sense of belonging to the Sámi culture. They also strive to contextualise Sámi practices in terms of today’s society and adjust to the present group of staff, children, and parents to ensure the children’s well-being.