Dans un environnement contraint lié aux injonctions des politiques publiques, notre recherche porte sur la capacité d'une méta-organisation à organiser une écologie capable de favoriser des innovations organisationnelles, en mobilisant deux leviers la gouvernance et le leadership. Nous montrons que le premier levier est représenté par une gouvernance duale (formelle et informelle), ouverte et faiblement stratifiée ; tandis que le leadership prend une forme mixte, verticale-hiérarchique et horizontale-partagée. Un second résultat est de montrer que c'est par la combinaison entre gouvernance et leadership que le Pôle des Services à la Personne parvient à développer les trois pratiques qui soutiennent les innovations (la gouvernance permet d'orchestrer les savoirs et de strategizer alors que le leadership participe à l'évolution des politiques publiques). Dans un troisième résultat, nous montrons combien gouvernance et leadership soutiennent également une quatrième pratique (ou méta-pratique), qui consiste en un travail de théorisation (Munir, 2005) pour justifier les fusions acquisitions et mobiliser un réseau d'alliés (experts, acteurs publics, opérateurs, leaders d'opinion...) en faveur de ces innovations. Ce travail de théorisation est d'autant plus nécessaire que ce secteur est particulièrement marqué par des tensions fortement ancrées dans des logiques institutionnelles opposées. Notre quatrième contribution est d'analyser le rôle de l'éthique comme objet frontière (Grenier, 2006) permettant la discussion et certaines formes de réconciliation autour de la fusion-acquisition comme solution au devenir de ce secteur. / In a constrained environment related to regulations of public policies (diverse and potentially contradictory), our research focuses on the ability of a meta-organization to organize an ecology capable of promoting organizational innovations, by mobilizing two levers governance and leadership. We show that the first lever is represented by a dual governance (formal and informal), open and low-stratified; while the leadership takes a mixed form: vertical-hierarchical and horizontal-shared. A second result is to show that it is through the combination of governance and leadership that the PSP (Home Care Services Association, "Pôle de Services à la Personne") Pole manages to develop the three practices that support innovations (governance helps to orchestrate knowledge capabilities and to strategize while the leadership participates in the development of public policies). In a third result, we show how governance and leadership also foster a fourth practice (or meta-practice), which is a theoretical work (Munir, 2005) to justify mergers and acquisitions, and mobilize a network of allies (experts, services providers, operators, opinion leaders...) for these innovations. This theoretical work is all the more necessary that this sector is particularly marked by tensions deeply rooted in opposing institutional logics. Our fourth contribution is to analyze the role of ethics as a boundary-object (Grenier, 2006) for discussion and some forms of reconciliation around the merger-acquisition as a solution to the future of this sector.

Syftet med den här essän är att undersöka om det går att synliggöra ett mellanrum som upplevs finnas mellan tillsynsansvarigs upplevelse av förskolans kvalitet, hur förskolan beskriver sin kvalitet och vad kvalitet är för barnen i deras vardag på förskolan. Mellanrummet gestaltar sig som ett fält med information som är svår att få syn på. Essän utgår ifrån två berättelser om hur barn kan uppleva sin vardag på förskolan och vad kvalitet kan vara utifrån ett barnperspektiv. Berättelserna har också fokus på mötet mellan tillsynsansvarig, förskolechefer och pedagoger. Deras roller prövas utifrån att vara nyckelpersoner som har att föra in begreppet kvalitet i förskolan.Teorier och styrdokument om vad kvalitet är i förskolan ställs i relation till tillsynsansvarigs, förskolechefers och pedagogers roll. Aristoteles kunskapsbegrepp fronesis blir ett stöd för att få syn på den praktiska kunskap som nyckelpersonerna äger och utövar. Tillsynsbesöket granskas i skrivandet som ett kontrollerande möte men också som ett möte med möjlighet till utveckling. I mötet har tillsynsansvarig två roller som lyfts fram, den kontrollerande och den vägledande. Det prövas också som ett gränsobjekt för deltagarna att förenas runt. Synen på begreppet kvalitet studeras i spänningsfältet mellan tillsynsansvarigs syn på kvalitet och förskolechefers och pedagogers syn på kvalitet. Under skivandet träder nya perspektiv på kvalitetsbegreppet fram. Ett intresse för fortsatt utforskande väcks, där begrepp som makt, interaktion, profession och självkännedom blir intressanta.

The purpose of this research was to determine how MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) can be introduced and implemented in Higher Education institutions in Mauritius. The study explored the perspectives of students, teachers and educational leaders using an exploratory case study approach, and involved the implementation of short MOOC-based courses in three areas of higher education in Mauritius. While much of the existing literature on MOOCs has used quantitative data to explore patterns of enrolment and retention, this study explicitly focused on student experience, and used Garrison, Anderson and Archer’s (2000) Community of Inquiry (COI) model to explore patterns of ‘presence’ and pedagogical preferences and needs of learners. In order to explore how these preferences, together with other contextual factors might affect the adoption of MOOCs in Mauritius, Venkatesh and Davis’s (2000) Technology Acceptance Model2 (TAM2) was used. The COI and TAM2 models were used both as analytical frameworks, but also to develop a new composite model that also can function as a boundary object (Bowker and Star, 1999; Fox, 2011) enabling different stakeholders to understand each other’s needs and expectations and communicate better with each other. For Mauritian learners, teaching presence in online environments is of critical importance: this is reflected in different scenarios of MOOC implementation identified, and in a proposed staged model for MOOC adoption across the HE sector in Mauritius. This involves further pilots and preliminary research (stage 1), integration of MOOCs into practice (stage 2), customisation and development of MOOCs (stage 3) and a MOOC for Mauritius (stage 4), with each stage informing the implementation of subsequent stages as part of a broad action research framework. The original contributions made by the research to the knowledge base of its possible audiences include: providing models of practice for teachers and educational leaders; informing the educational leaders and policy makers about how MOOCs can be successfully implemented in Mauritius; providing detailed case studies on MOOCs to the academic audience interested in MOOCs specifically; and proposing a new composite, pedagogically-informed, technology acceptance model to those academics who are interested in online pedagogy and technology acceptance. The results of this PhD research can also inform the introduction and effective implementation of MOOCs in other less-economically developed countries.

Organizations benefit from the knowledge held by individual members as well as knowledge that is shared among those members. In order for knowledge to co-develop between members, and to spread, organizations must provide opportunities for members to collaborate. Organizational teams sometimes require assistance with interpersonal communication, establishing consensus, and sharing knowledge when collaborating. Group facilitators can offer guidance and intervene when teams need support. In addition, teams can find support through the use of visual representation boundary objects (VRBOs) to build trust, improve communication, increase cooperation, and share ideas. This study explores how knowledge is shared between team members and uncovers the importance of social interaction during the co-development of shared knowledge. The role that group facilitators play in team collaboration is highlighted. The results of the study indicate that a positive relationship exists between the use of a VRBO and the development of shared knowledge amongst a team. Patterns emerged from the findings that reveal a structure to the team’s collective meaning making that constitutes an underlying theory of action. The author examines the benefits of using VRBOs for teams and organizations including improved collaboration and communication.

<p>Preschool is a central part of Swedish family life. The manner in which the state regulates preschool through laws, ordinances, and various kinds of written objectives has an impact on many people in the Swedish society. </p><p>The thesis examines the development of preschool state regulation from the 1940s until 2008. The starting point of the study is a draft for a new Education Act, put forward in 2003, which proposed that preschool should be integrated into the school system as a new form of school. The purpose of the study is to generate knowledge about the state regulation of Swedish preschool, and how it has contributed to the shaping of preschool as a societal institution. Questions considered in the analysis are how regulation delimits preschool as a social category, what role this regulation assigns preschool in relation to other actors and societal institutions involved in early childhood education and care, and what principles this regulation is based on.</p><p>The study has evolved within the research tradition of curriculum theory as developed in studies in educational politics. The analysis is carried out as a text analysis, where the concepts of boundary work, official classification and activity system serve as important analytical tools. Texts produced within the formal chain of decision and legislation: directives for committees, government white papers, ministerial task forces, bills, legislative texts etc., form the empirical foundation for the study. </p><p>The analysis shows that economic as well as legal and ideological governing instruments are used in the shaping of the framework of preschool. These frameworks are indicated in the form of different boundary markers that delimit preschool as a specific category and arrange it in relation to other categories. The boundaries indicated by these boundary markers have been subject to extensive discussion during the formulation process. Through this boundary work, preschool has been constructed as a full time preschool, commissioned to provide both education and care. The boundaries of this commission are in some respects indistinct and contain several overlapping elements with regards to family, social services and school. At the same time, preschool holds a fixed core with more distinct boundaries, in the form of a part time public preschool delimited by time and age and regulated by far-reaching legislation regarding the rights of children to attend. Owing to this construction, preschool may balance several different and partly contradictory demands placed on it by other institutions and by different interest groups, while at the same time maintaining a core of identity of its own. In that sense, preschool may be described as a boundary object. Thus, when it is suggested that preschool should constitute a form of school and be placed in the more formal regulation structures of the school system, the balance of this construction is challenged. </p>

Much research regarding efficiency in manufacturing industry has historically been focused on the material activities of the shop floor. However, companies that merely focus on material activities when trying to improve lead times, risk losing potential for improvements within immaterial activities such as planning, engineering, design, and purchasing, which often constitute the most time consuming parts of the order fulfillment processes. Engineer to order (ETO) products are particularly time consuming regarding their immaterial activities, and the customer is waiting for the products from the very beginning of the order fulfillment process. Shortening the lead time to customer for ETO products is therefore important for customer satisfaction. The aim of this study is to adapt an existing lead time tree model currently focused on material activities to also include immaterial activities, enabling a full visualization of all activities contained in order fulfillment processes. The lead time tree model would thereby be able to use as a tool when working on shortening the lead time to customer. A further aim of the study is to investigate how the adapted lead time tree model can be used in further areas as well, in addition to visualizing immaterial activities. The adaption of the lead time tree model has been based on the original literary source of the lead time tree model. The original lead time tree model has been analyzed towards theoretical data from a literature study, and towards empirical data about immaterial activities in order fulfillment processes for ETO products, from the case company Kongsberg Maritime Sweden AB (previously Rolls-Royce AB). The result of this has been an adapted lead time tree model that can visualize immaterial activities. Several adaptions of the original lead time tree model have been made for it to be able to visualize immaterial activities, while still keeping the basics of the original model. The adapted lead time tree model comprises information that is normally kept separated and that is important when planning and improving a process. Additional information that is needed for each specific case can also easily be included in the lead time tree. The adapted lead time tree model has proven to have additional areas of use within project planning, improvement work regarding lead time reduction and root-cause analysis, and as a boundary object for communication between internal actors and between internal and external actors. The adapted lead time tree model is presumably able to map and visualize immaterial activities in other fields of business as well, other than manufacturing, as the nature of immaterial activities remains the same across business environments.

L'objet de cette thèse est d'analyser l'émergence d'un objet technique, un portail numérique de produits de formation, en identifiant tous les actants qu'un tel projet a mobilisés et en tentant de saisir la logique de leurs interactions pour en dégager les différentes configurations sociotechniques qui se succèdent, les lois ou les régularités qui les rendent représentatives d'un processus d'innovation technique. À partir d'une enquête de terrain fortement inspirée d'une démarche ethnographique, cette recherche dresse l'inventaire de douze portails numériques qui se sont succédés entre 1998 et 2008 dans les Universités de Grenoble et décrit dans le même mouvement les acteurs, leurs positions (convergentes ou contradictoires), les différents points de vue en présence et les enjeux politiques, techniques, économiques, etc.Empruntant le concept d'objet-frontière pour englober cet ensemble d'environnements numériques successifs et communs à un territoire universitaire, l'étude donne une importance aux objets dans l'action et offre une méthode de compréhension des points d'association et de rupture entre les différents actants mobilisés. L'objectif est de modéliser les interactions qui s'établissent à chaque nouveau « prototype » de portail et qui traduisent des chaînes d'associations (techniques, économiques, politiques et d'utilisation) faisant apparaître différents réseaux.En référence à la théorie de l'acteur-réseau, l'analyse des processus de fabrication des portails consiste à identifier les mécanismes à l'œuvre dans les mouvements générateurs de ces réseaux. Cette sociologie conduit à porter un regard particulier sur le portail, considéré comme la résultante d'une combinaison d'associations entre des actants humains et non-humains. Le portail est alors une mise en forme des relations d'entités hétérogènes sociales et techniques. Pour comprendre ces mécanismes de construction, d'ajustement ou de stabilisation des liens entre les entités du réseau, la démarche consiste, dans un premier temps, en partant de l'historique des douze portails, à transposer l'ensemble des données observées dans un espace topographique (schémas, tableaux) et d'y faire figurer les relations qui se nouent entre les différents actants par la médiation de l'objet technique.Cette mise en scène des douze réseaux, à partir de l'objet technique en tant que point de repère des transformations successives de l'objet-frontière, permet dans un second temps de réaliser une analyse de la structure des réseaux, c'est-à-dire de l'ensemble des données et des agencements entre ces données qui structurent un espace. L'analyse consiste alors à interpréter la structure obtenue pour rendre compte des agencements particuliers. Pour chacun des douze portails, cette recherche met en lumière des structures particulières de réseaux et des propriétés spécifiques de constitution, de déformation et de disparition auxquelles sont soumis ces collectifs hybrides. Le rapprochement itératif et méthodique entre ces structures permet de les classer en trois ensembles distincts : les réseaux autocentrés, les réseaux coopératifs et les réseaux ouverts. Ces derniers révèlent des propriétés spécifiques, notamment : - que la compétition symbolique ou économique est une force structurante du réseau ; – que l'objet technique est un composant dont la plasticité dépend davantage de la structure du réseau que de ses caractéristiques techniques ; – que le potentiel d'action d'une entité (c'est-à-dire sa capacité à créer de la différence au sein du réseau) est lié à sa capacité à établir des associations. L'ensemble de ces propriétés traduit des processus d'innovation qui amènent à questionner le modèle de l'innovation de P. Flichy quant à la distinction des deux cadres dans l'objet-frontière et le modèle de la traduction quant à son principe de symétrie. / The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the emergence of a technical object - a digital portal for training products - by identifying all actors that such a project has mobilized and trying to grasp the logic of their interactions to define the various socio-technical configurations laws or regularities that make them representative of a technical innovation process. From a field survey strongly inspired by an ethnographic approach, this research provides an inventory of twelve digital portals that succeeded between 1998 and 2008 at the Universities of Grenoble while describing actors and their positions (converging or contradictory), the different point of view, and the political, technical and economic stakes.Borrowing from the boundary object concept to include this set of successive digital environments common to a university territory study gives importance to objects in action and provides a method of understanding of the association and breaking points between mobilized actors. The objective is to model the interactions established for each new "prototype" portal, which represent chains of associations (technical, economic, political and usage) thus revealing different networks.With reference to the theory of the actor-network, this analysis of the design process of portals aims to identify the mechanisms at work in generating these networks. This sociology implies taking a particular look at the portal, considered as the result of a combination of associations between human and non-human actors. The portal is there by shaped by the heterogeneous social and technical relationships of the actors who designed it.To understand these mechanisms of construction, adjustment or stabilization of the links between network entities, the approach starts with an historical overview of the twelve portals in order to transpose all of the observed data into a topographical space (diagrams, tables) and to include the relationships established between actants through the mediation of the technical object.This presentation of the twelve networks, which considers the technical object as a landmark of successive transformations of the boundary object, then makes it possible to perform an analysis of the network structure, that is say of the set of data and and how the relationships between this data structure a space. The analysis then consists in interpreting the resulting structure to account for special relationships. For each of the twelve portals, this research highlights specific network structures and specific properties of the constitution, deformation and loss that these hybrid collectives are subject to. The iterative and systematic connection between these structures can be classified into three distinct groups: self-centered networks, collaborative networks and open networks. These groups reveal specific properties, including: - symbolic or economic competition is a structuring force of the network; - the technical object is a component whose plasticity depends more on the structure of the network than on its technical characteristics; - the action potential of an entity (that is to say its ability to create difference within the network) is related to its ability to establish associations.All of these innovation processes lead us to question the P. Flichy model of innovation regarding the distinction of the two boundary object frameworks and in the model of the actor-network in its principle of symmetry.

Ce travail de thèse porte sur la conception et l’expérimentation d’un outil d’aide au transfert de connaissances enseignées pour la formation professionnelle en alternance de techniciens supérieurs. La formation étudiée s’adresse à des étudiants d’un Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie en Statistique et en Traitement Informatique de données (DUT-STID). Elle est dispensée au sein d’un Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT Lumière Lyon 2) qui présente la particularité de ne fonctionner qu’en alternance, avec un engagement important des professionnels dans tout le processus de la formation. La durée de cette formation est de deux ans dans une formule spécifique le « 1 + 1 » où les apprenants sont sous statut d’étudiants la première année et sous statut d’apprenti la seconde année. Pour étudier le transfert de connaissances enseignées en entreprise, nous nous sommes appuyé sur un cadre théorique basé sur la théorie de l’activité (Engeström, 1987 ; Tuomi-Grohn & Engeström, 2003). Du point de vue méthodologique, nous avons fait le choix d’une approche progressive et collaborative. Nous avons tout d’abord mené, à partir de plusieurs sources de données (documents ; enquête et entretiens ; archives des traces d’activités des apprentis en entreprise issues des livrets d’apprentissage) une analyse de l’organisation pédagogique de la formation en recherchant ce qui pouvait, au sein de celle-ci, favoriser les mises en lien de situations d’apprentissage et les transferts de connaissances. Les résultats de cette analyse ont montré que l’organisation existante était peu favorable aux transferts de connaissances enseignées en situation de travail, comme cela peut être le cas dans de nombreuses formations en alternance. Puis, nous avons conçu, en nous inspirant du concept d’objet-frontière, et en étroite collaboration avec les responsables de la formation et les enseignants connaissant le mieux le cursus et les missions des apprentis en entreprise, un nouvel outil permettant d’effectuer des rapprochements entre des types de tâches réalisées en entreprise et des types de connaissances enseignées à l’IUT. Ce nouvel outil a été testé et expérimenté sur plusieurs cas d’étudiants en apprentissage en entreprise au cours de différentes périodes. L’objectif était de varier les types de contexte et les profils de tuteur pour tester la capacité de l’outil à fonctionner dans différents types de systèmes d’activité, avec différents types d’acteurs. Sur la base des cas étudiés, les tests et expérimentations réalisés en situation réelle ont révélé que notre outil répondait indéniablement à un besoin et était très favorablement accueilli notamment par les maitres d’apprentissage, les apprentis et les tuteurs universitaires, principaux destinataires de cet objet-frontière. Dans les cas étudiés, il a permis d’enrichir les missions confiées, d’expliciter davantage les étapes et les ressources nécessaires au travail de l’apprenti et de favoriser des temps d’échange sur les connaissances et outils enseignés à l’IUT qui pourraient être pertinents pour la réalisation des activités en entreprise. L’expérimentation montre, cependant, que son utilisation est complexe et repose surtout sur la capacité des tuteurs universitaires à en expliciter le fonctionnement aux maitres d’apprentissage et à faire vivre l’outil en situation. La dernière partie de la thèse rend compte du travail réalisé pour intégrer cet outil d’aide au transfert dans l’organisation pédagogique de la formation. Depuis septembre 2012, il fait officiellement partie des outils de suivi et d’évaluation des apprentis en situation de travail. / This work of thesis concerns the conception and the experiment of a help tool for the transfer of knowledge taught for the vocational training in senior technicians' alternation. The studied training addresses students of a Two-year technical degree in Statistics and IT processing of data (DUT-STID). It takes place within a University Institute of Technology (IUT Lumière LYON 2) which has the peculiarity to work only in alternation, with a significant commitment of professionals throughout the training process. The duration of this training is of two years in a specific formula " 1 + 1 " where the learners are under students' status the first year and under the status of apprentice the second. To study the transfer of knowledge taught in company, we leaned on a theoretical framework based on the theory of the activity (Engeström, 1987; Tuomi-Grohn and Engeström, 2003). From the methodological point of view, we chose a progressive and collaborative approach. We first conducted from multiple data sources (documents; survey and interviews; archives of the tracks of activities of the apprentices in company stemming from notebooks of learning) an analysis of the educational organization seeking what could, within it, promote the linking of learning situations (apprenticeship) and the transfers of knowledge. The results of this analysis showed that the existing organization was not conductive to the transfers of knowledge taught in working situation as may be the case in many sandwich courses. Then, in close collaboration with the persons in charge of the training and the teachers knowing best the program and the missions of the apprentices in company, we developed, by basing ourselves on the concept of boundary-object, a new tool allowing to make links between types of tasks realized in company and types of knowledge taught at the IUT (UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY). This new tool was tested and experimented on several cases of students in apprenticeship in company during various periods. The aim was to vary the types of context and tutor profiles to test the ability of the tool to operate in different types of activity systems with different types of actors. On the basis of the studied cases, the tests and the experiments realized in real life situation revealed that our tool answered unmistakably a need and was warmly welcomed in particular by the apprenticeship masters, the apprentices and the academic tutors, the main beneficiaries of this boundary-object. In the cases studied, it allowed to enrich the entrusted mission, to further clarify the steps and resources needed for the apprentice’s work and to foster the exchange time on the knowledge and tools taught at UIT (UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY) that may be relevant to the achievement of the activities in a company.The experiment shows however, that its use is complex and based a lot on the ability of the academic tutors to clarify the functioning to the apprenticeship masters and to make use of the tool in situation. The last part of the thesis reports the work realized to integrate this support tool for the transfer into the educational organization of the training. Since September, 2012, it is officially part of the tools for monitoring and evaluation of the apprentices in working situation.

<p>The aim of this study is to analyze the construction of research culture and collaboration within the research studio Tools for Creativity, one node in the larger Interactive Institute. This studio is an arena that in today’s society is associated with boundary crossing, dynamics and variability: An environment with high-tech equipment, a staff equipped with diverse skills, and a flexible approach with the ambition of developing innovative tools based on ICT to strengthen human creativity. The present thesis is divided into four main parts. In Part One, culture as analytical framework is presented. This is followed by a presentation of field work, data and field site, the studio Tools for Creativity, and its employees. This includes a discussion of the methods of participant observations and deep inter-views. In the theoretical framework overview, perspectives used in this thesis is presented, including the so-called “new research landscape” debate, a background to this thesis. The introduction concludes with a chapter whith a reflexivity discussion including the making of the research self during field work and in the written text. In Part Two, entitled “Technology”, the informants’ definition of technology in relation ICT and the prototypes produced is ana-lyzed. The concepts “enlightenment optimism” and “romantic uneasiness” are presented as theoretical entrances to the chapter. This is the background for an analysis of the future- and speed-oriented discourse that characterizes the informants’ perception of technology. The aim of using technology to support human creativity, challenge presence and facilitate multi-cultural communication is further discussed. This is juxtaposed with another aspect of technol-ogy, namely the informant’s critique of technology’s impact on mankind, humanity and society. Part Three, “Re-search”, deals with interpretations and negotiations of the concept of research and the researcher conducted by the informants at Tools for Creativity. First, the concept of “boundary object” is presented followed by its use order to analyze the construction of research and the researcher in a multi-disciplinary arena like the studio. An important part of the making of the researcher is the trading of skills in the attempt of legitimizing the individuals’ efforts at conducting research. Here, focus is the negotiation of research as an activity between individuals representing the sciences and the arts, as well as those with formal education and autodidacts. Attempts to manage a broader research concept are placed in relation to academic quality demands. In this analysis, the point of departure is Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of symbolic capital. Here, gender is included as symbolic capital. Part Four is called “Reflections” and contains a discussion of the study and reflections concerning field work. This is followed by a summation of what happened to Tools for Creativity and Interactive Institute after finished field work.</p>

Preschool is a central part of Swedish family life. The manner in which the state regulates preschool through laws, ordinances, and various kinds of written objectives has an impact on many people in the Swedish society. The thesis examines the development of preschool state regulation from the 1940s until 2008. The starting point of the study is a draft for a new Education Act, put forward in 2003, which proposed that preschool should be integrated into the school system as a new form of school. The purpose of the study is to generate knowledge about the state regulation of Swedish preschool, and how it has contributed to the shaping of preschool as a societal institution. Questions considered in the analysis are how regulation delimits preschool as a social category, what role this regulation assigns preschool in relation to other actors and societal institutions involved in early childhood education and care, and what principles this regulation is based on. The study has evolved within the research tradition of curriculum theory as developed in studies in educational politics. The analysis is carried out as a text analysis, where the concepts of boundary work, official classification and activity system serve as important analytical tools. Texts produced within the formal chain of decision and legislation: directives for committees, government white papers, ministerial task forces, bills, legislative texts etc., form the empirical foundation for the study. The analysis shows that economic as well as legal and ideological governing instruments are used in the shaping of the framework of preschool. These frameworks are indicated in the form of different boundary markers that delimit preschool as a specific category and arrange it in relation to other categories. The boundaries indicated by these boundary markers have been subject to extensive discussion during the formulation process. Through this boundary work, preschool has been constructed as a full time preschool, commissioned to provide both education and care. The boundaries of this commission are in some respects indistinct and contain several overlapping elements with regards to family, social services and school. At the same time, preschool holds a fixed core with more distinct boundaries, in the form of a part time public preschool delimited by time and age and regulated by far-reaching legislation regarding the rights of children to attend. Owing to this construction, preschool may balance several different and partly contradictory demands placed on it by other institutions and by different interest groups, while at the same time maintaining a core of identity of its own. In that sense, preschool may be described as a boundary object. Thus, when it is suggested that preschool should constitute a form of school and be placed in the more formal regulation structures of the school system, the balance of this construction is challenged.