Prinsippet om barn(et)s beste i barnehage(kon)tekster

Abstract The aim of this doctoral thesis is to illuminate the principle of the best interest of the child and to assess its impact on pedagogical work in the kindergarten. The question that guided the research were; how is the Principle of the Best Interests of the Child formulated and concretized in policy documents and what implication the principle has for pedagogical work in kindergartens? The answers were based on an analysis of policy documents with the purpose to open up a space for critical awareness and engagement about policy documents and to find possible new understandings of the pedagogical work in kindergartens. The three empirical studies that form the basis of this dissertation investigate how the concept of the best interest of the child has been formulated and concretized in various policy documents. The three studies have nevertheless different foci. The first study investigates the breadth of elements / factors related to the child's best interests with the purpose to clarify the conceptual base of the principle of the child's best interests in kindergarten. In the two following studies, two of the key concepts of the first study were investigated. These were the right to democratic participation in the kindergarten and the right to special needs education for the youngest children. The doctoral thesis is positioned from critical theory and pedagogy, were Jürgen Habermas work was the starting point. In addition the critical pedagogy of Gert Biesta's (2014; 2015) and Janusz Korczak's (2016, 2018) is used in order to understand and discuss children`s rights, pedagogy and kindergartens as institution. The ontological approach in this work is constructivism, based on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s (2010) hermeneutics. The dissertation is positioned at the intersection of law and pedagogy and because of this theory of law plays a significant role. Investigating the best interests of the child through the lens of critical pedagogical theory opens up new ways to understand the criticism of the principle and the right of the best interests of the child, where challenges and dilemmas also arise. The dissertation examines and understands the best interests of the child as something more than just a individually oriented concept. The criticism of the concepts vagueness and weakness of the best interests of the child is regarded as its strength. It is the weakness of the principle of the child's best interests, that opens up the space to discuss this as a non-legal standard (or a standard outside the law), who emphasize the importance of kindergarten teachers as central to the development of the principle and the right of the child's best interests. The principle and the right `best interests of the child` have both collective and relational dimensions and are understood in close connection with the concepts of democratic participation and inclusion. On a general level, the doctoral thesis can contribute to new insights in pedagogy when it comes to how the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Best Interests of the Child can be understood and applied in an educational context. By understanding the principle of the best interests of the child, both as a legal principle and a fundamental right, but also as an educational principle, kindergarten teachers are given special responsibility for the realization and implementation of this right in their field, but also for the development of the principle of the best interest of the child in practical pedagogical work in kindergarten