Places for children’s belonging

The present PhD project aims to contribute with knowledge about the relation between places and children’s sense of belonging within the community of school-age educare. Questions about children’s belonging are critical for several reasons and since children and youth spend a significant portion of their time in school-age educare, it becomes particularly important to study how belonging can be supported in this context. An argument for situating this study in school-age educare is a lack of knowledge related to school-age educare settings about belonging and places. Focusing on places is a important contribution in relation to that the settings used by the SAEC are often the same as those used by the school. This means that children attend places that are utilized by two different contexts, each with it’s own traditions and purposes. Due to the project exploring the relation between places and children’s sense of belonging, it has potential to contribute to knowledge for quality education in SAEC.
The project is based on two theoretical perspectives: Yuval-Davis' politics of belonging and Grünewald's critical pedagogy of place. Ontologically, the focus is on understanding children's belonging to places as relational. According to Yuval-Davis, belonging is something created together with others and connected to power and inequality. Gruenewald contributes by adding a place-based perspective on education. Together, these perspectives create a theoretical framework for examining how belonging, power, and place interact within the SAEC.
The project is guided by the following overarching research questions: How do children experience belonging in relation to different places in school-age educare? What conditions children’s belonging to different places in school-age educare?
Fieldwork will be conducted at two after-school centers representing different geographical locations and group sizes. Data will be generated through walk-and-talk interviews, video observations, and group interviews with children. Analysis will focus on interactions and actions between children and between children and teachers. Ethical considerations adhere to the guidelines of the Swedish Research Council (2024).
In Sweden, school and school-age educare often share the same settings, which contribute to a complexity in how belonging can be understood in relation to these places. The analysis aims to identify places children highlight for them as key settings in the SAEC. By analyzing video observations of interactions in these settings, the study explores boundary work, negotiations, and communities among children and between children and teachers. The place-based perspective adds depth to children's sense of belonging. Preliminary findings will contribute to highlighting dilemmas and potential in places for children’s belonging as well as for the shared settings as educational settings.
Potential discussion points are teachers’ awareness of children’s perspectives to develop settings and activities in SAEC and further dilemmas and potential in places used in SAEC för an educational starting point.