A qualitative study on how the concept of teaching is defined within the preschool's activities

The purpose of this study is to investigate and gain a more in-depth understanding of how the concept of teaching is defined by preschool teachers and how the concept of teaching is applied within preschool activities. In our independent work, we would like to explore how preschool teachers define the concept of teaching and how teaching is applied within preschool activities. This is because the concept of teaching has been given a more significant role in the preschool's activities and that the role of the preschool teacher is clarified in the new revised curriculum (Lpfö. 98 rev. 2018, s. 7). We will base the study on three questions which are: How is the concept of teaching defined in the preschool context? What are the differences between the preschool teacher’s definition of the concept of teaching? What methods and strategies do preschool teachers use to include children in the teaching opportunities they consider important for children’s development? We will answer our questions based on the socio-cultural perspective and variation theory. Within the sociocultural theory we will focus on three concepts which are mediation the zone of proximal development and appropriation. The results show that there are different definitions of the concept of teaching by preschool teachers, and that is partly because that the concept is somewhat new in the preschool education. At the same time, they consider that the concept belongs more in the secondary school, and not as much in preschool. This is in line with previous research that we have used in our study. When it comes to how teaching is applied in preschool, it is shown that preschool teachers always have a purpose with the activities and clear learning goals both for the planned and spontaneous teaching opportunities.