Appropriate readiness in Danish family and preschool education

What do parents and pedagogues do together and separately in order to make children ready /prepared - currently and historically? How is readiness seen as connected with school? The research project builds on earlier research on the relationship between familial and institutional preschool-socialisation (Kryger, Kampmann, Bach, Ellegaard). It also builds on theories of Lareau, Parenting (Furedi, Faircloth, Lee) and Aarseth. The study builds on a multitude of methods: among others ethnographic observation, interviews with parents and pedagogues, workshops with pedagogues - in four different day care settings – with focus on 5-years old, comparative elements (with field work in Singapore and New Zealand) and historical comparison with secondary analysis of parent interviews made in y2000. Pedagogues and parents were recruited to the study based on written information, guaranteed anonymity and consent. Pedagogues were involved in interpretation workshops. General findings of the ethnographic observation are presented focussing on findings from the parent interviews contrasting them with year 2000 parent interviews. The study identifies a continued focus on the discourse of “the social child''. This is currently somewhat under pressure from the discourse of ''the school child'' - with a growing focus on academic preparation and readiness. Compared with 2000 there seems to be more emphasis on school, more concern on being prepared and more anxiety. Overall we identify a visible ambivalence and tension among the adult actors at all institutional levels between a “play pole” and a “instruction/school pole”. The study points to the value of reflexive perspective sharing between pedagogues and parents.