Helsefremmende arbeid blant sosialt utsatte barn i barnehagen. Hvilke erfaringer har pedagogiske ledere?

Summary: Background: Norwegian kindergarten’s are supposed to have a health promoting and health preventive function. This includes work that can result in social equality and less discrimination. Knowledge about the strong connection between adverce childhood experiences and health development, makes kindergarten an important arena for the society’s promoting and preventive effort in general. In this effort it looks like the health promoting perspective have received less focus than preventive strategies. Aim: The aim with this master thesis is to focus and draw attention to the health promoting perspective as foundation for the effort towards socially disadvantaged children and relate this to every day practice in kindergarten. Method: This is a qualitative oriented study. Data is collected by interviewing 4 kindergarten teachers (pedagogic leaders) from 3 different kindergartens using focus group as interview method. Findings: Kindergarten teachers find work with socially disadvantage children meaningful, but also challenging and demanding. Result: Despite the fact that plans for kindergarten focus on promoting children’s health, results from this study shows that in health promoting work towards socially disadvantaged children, strongest focus seems to be on preventive strategies based on individual support. Key words: kindergarten, socially disadvantage children, health promotion, salutogenese, resilience, lifespan, stigma