Inclusion, a basic principle of equal education set by The UNESCO Salamanca Statement in 1994, can be seen as an only rarely realized utopia. The principle that no child should be excluded from any early childhood classroom activity (V. Paley in Armstrong & Dawson, 2004), is often considered by teachers to be difficult or even impossible to achieve in today’s early childhood and childhood classrooms. In this paper we examine adult-child joint play spaces called “playworlds” (Lindqvist, 1995; authors et al., 2011) as potentially inclusive spaces in the field of education. Playworlds are adult-child joint play activities in which children and teachers create, enter and exit fantasy worlds.  We argue that playworlds can be thought of as 'real utopias' (Wright, 2010; Brown & Cole, 2001) that aim to develop inclusive practices and communities within an institution (preschool or school) that in most cases relies on exclusive practices. We investigate, with two case studies, one from U.S. early childhood elementary school classroom and one from Finnish childhood elementary school classroom, how two playworlds functioned as radically inclusive settings, seemingly bypassing institutional even physical barriers to inclusivity through the logic of play. We discuss the potentials and challenges of creating these "as if" imaginative worlds that are located within regulated and controlled institutions such as schools (other & author, 2019). We also examine doing educational research through playworlds as a utopian methodology (Brown & Cole, 2001): What is required of researchers in supporting these alternative spaces?

One of the productive challenges of working in early childhood education and care is combining researchers’ and teachers’ knowledge and ways of knowing. This chapter presents findings from studies that combine researchers’ perspectives and teacher’s insights. We suggest that a certain type of adult–child joint play, called playworld, (Lindqvist, 1995), can be a means for preschool teachers to bring their personal selves, not just their professional, teacher selves, into their work with young children (Ferholt & Schuck, forthcoming; Nilsson et al., 2018). We begin from a relational pedagogical perspective (Aspelin & Persson, 2011) where concepts of co-existence and co-operation are central. This conceptual framework is applied in a case study using observations from a two-year ethnographic investigation of three Swedish preschool teachers implementing playworld pedagogy for the first time. Their work was influenced by a pedagogy of listening and exploratory learning, originating from the municipal preschools of Reggio Emilia.

Förskolan i Sverige har blivit en del av skolväsendet och begrepp från skolans värld överförs till och ska gälla även för förskolan, däribland undervisning och utbildning. Undervisning definieras i skollagen som målstyrda och lärarledda processer. Vi vill med artikeln bidra till kunskapandet om hur undervisning i förskolan kan förstås. Med begreppen iscensättning och målrelationella- kontra målrationella lärandeprocesser analyserar vi delar av ett årslångt utforskande- och lekprojekt i en förskola. Baserat på analysen argumenterar vi för en målrelationell ansats för att tänka kring och arrangera för målstyrda processer i förskolan.

Since 1998, preschool provision in Sweden has been supervised through the Ministry of Edu-cation. Since then, concepts from compulsory schooling have been formally incorporated in this provision. Teaching, is a particularly striking example, as it is currently applied to pre-school based on the definition in the Swedish school law: “teacher-led, goal-oriented pro-cesses.” This paper contributes knowledge concerning how teaching in preschool can be un-derstood. Drawing on the concepts of staging, and goal-relational versus goal-rational pro-cesses, we present analyses of preschool activities documented as part of a year-long project focused on children’s socio-dramatic play and exploration. We argue for a goal-relational ap-proach to thinking about and arranging for goal-directed processes in preschool.

We introduce ‘Preschools Didactics From Within’ (PDFW), a novel approach to preschool-based research. This approach focuses on the design of research projects that (a) specifically address issues faced by preschool teachers and children and (b) create opportunities for teachers and children to contribute their expertise by mutually occasioning self-reflection among teachers, children and researchers. Conquergood (2002) calls for the development of research models that “bridge segregated and differently valued knowledges” and bring together “legitimated as well as subjugated modes of inquiry,” (p.151-152). PDFW is one such model. Specifically, PDFW is a kind of formative intervention organized around principles of cultural historical activity theory (Engeström, 2008). Data include field notes, audio and video recordings, interviews and artwork that were collected by researchers, teacher and students. Informed consent was obtained from teachers, parents and guardians. Our analyses show that teachers and children who participate in PDFW construct novel solutions and concepts that can be used in other instances as tools for the development of locally appropriate pedagogical adaptations. The practice of pedagogical documentation is key to understanding the rich, dynamic processes underlying the development of these concepts ''from within". 'Preschool Didactics From Within' has wide implications for research design - not just in preschool didactics - that is rigorous, democratic and that promotes a collaborative ethic among research participants (researchers included) that positively transforms both partner organisations (preschools in this case) and the academy. 

This presentation outlines a preschool didactic of exploration focused on designing aesthetically-oriented learning environments in which teachers and children dialogically explore themes based on children’s interests. The work expands on recent research on pre-K teaching practices that combine performance art and drama pedagogies, Nordbø (2012); Haugen et al (2006). In this project we apply a performance studies framework, Johansson (2012) to analysis of data from an ongoing qualitative study of one-year old preschoolers. Our claims are based on video and interview data collected in a preschool over a period of four months. Informed consent was obtained from teachers, parents and guardians. We describe how the teachers create “installations” that occasion children’s aesthetic exploration, and argue that the communication that subsequently unfolds between children and teachers promotes their development as culture and knowledge creators, Dahlberg & Lenz Taguchi (1994). These installations form a kind of metaphorical dance: The teacher and children mutually lead one another in remediating the installations in ways that leverage repetition. This enables the children to explore differences and similarities among different iterations of these installations over time. Critical to this process is the practice of pedagogical documentation which teachers use to longitudinally chronicle and narrativise children's experiences of the changing installations. We show how children use their bodies to explore the environment, and how teachers correspondingly adapt these environments in ways that challenge the form and content of prior installations. These observations provide a general framework for practitioners interested in designing and implementing aesthetically oriented preschool activities.