How did political, academic and professional voices negotiate in early childhood education for sustainability in a state visit to China?

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday III)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Building a sustainable future for our children: comparative studies in early childhood education from China and Norway

Proposal

This empirical study aims to illuminate the complexity of international negotiation when different stakeholders are involved in a joint collaborative project in education for sustainable future (ESF). The predominant example is gathered from preparations in a kindergarten for a Norwegian state visit to rural China. The theoretical approach is dialogism, focusing on concepts such as dialogic multivoicedness, outsidedness, authoritative and persuasive discourse. Data were collected from interviews with different stakeholders involved, including Chinese and Norwegian government officials, university professors within ECE, students and kindergarten professionals. Daily observations and negotiations during the one week of preparation in the kindergarten are also part of the empirical material. Thematic analysis is utilized to analyse the collected data. The findings indicate that the different stakeholders are challenged in their authoritative discourses by the outsidedness of other stakeholders. This includes tensions between stakeholders from Norway and China, but also stakeholders at different levels. The need for dialogic multivoicedness was prevalent in order to obtain a persuasive discourse that all stakeholders could share.

Author

• Kristine Hoffman Aahaug, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences