The purpose of this study is to examine how educators who teach in schools that face challenging circumstances understand child development and the school context, and how their understanding of child development is manifested through non-academic responses to these challenging circumstances. Using mixed methods to explore and compare the results of survey data (N = 209) with interview data (N = 48) this study examines 10 schools that face challenging circumstances that have also demonstrated trends of success on provincially administered standardized assessments. Analysis reveals the findings that educators understand the challenging circumstances their students face to be developmental in nature, that educators’ believe that these challenges involve students’ physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development, and that educators respond to these challenges by implementing non-academic and co-curricular programs that are developmentally based. This study finds that all 10 schools have implemented developmental programs that foster the success of students. These findings suggest that educators offset the developmental disadvantages their students face as a result of the community, school, and their home environments. This study finds that these educators believe students’ social-emotional development is intertwined with student cognitive development. Further, these educators have expanded the traditional performance-based construct of student “success” to include a range of success that includes child social-emotional developmental success, and in expanding their understanding of student success, have arrived at an innovative, developmentally-based approach to facing challenging circumstances in schools.

The purpose of this study is to examine how educators who teach in schools that face challenging circumstances understand child development and the school context, and how their understanding of child development is manifested through non-academic responses to these challenging circumstances. Using mixed methods to explore and compare the results of survey data (N = 209) with interview data (N = 48) this study examines 10 schools that face challenging circumstances that have also demonstrated trends of success on provincially administered standardized assessments. Analysis reveals the findings that educators understand the challenging circumstances their students face to be developmental in nature, that educators’ believe that these challenges involve students’ physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development, and that educators respond to these challenges by implementing non-academic and co-curricular programs that are developmentally based. This study finds that all 10 schools have implemented developmental programs that foster the success of students. These findings suggest that educators offset the developmental disadvantages their students face as a result of the community, school, and their home environments. This study finds that these educators believe students’ social-emotional development is intertwined with student cognitive development. Further, these educators have expanded the traditional performance-based construct of student “success” to include a range of success that includes child social-emotional developmental success, and in expanding their understanding of student success, have arrived at an innovative, developmentally-based approach to facing challenging circumstances in schools.

The aim of this paper is to study educators’ understanding of programming in early childhood education and what conditions they find to be necessary to work with programming. This study has taken place in a specific context where the curriculum is in a process of change in Sweden. In the suggestion for a revised curriculum made by Skolverket digital competence has been added and it gives preschools the responsibility for creating possibilities for children to develop their digital competence. In the comment material for the new curriculums by Skolverket programming is defined as a digital tool and also understood in a wider sense as part of every aspect of digital competence. This is a qualitative study and both interviews and a questionnaire form has been used. Eight educators from three different preschools has participated. The educators’ understanding of programming has been analyzed using discourse theory and analysis. The conditions for working with programming is analyzed using the TPCK model for integrating technology in teaching in addition to discourse theory.The results of this study show that the dominating way to understand programming is part of a discourse that lifts the importance of programming as basic or key competences that everyone should have, both for the sake of the individual and for society’s sake. When it comes to the conditions for working with programming in early childhood education knowledge stands out as one of the main factors, much because there is a lack of knowledge on the subject amongst educators. Knowledge is a wide term and the study shows that all the categories of the TPCK model is covered in the educators perceived conditions. Outside of knowledge the driving force of individuals, active leadership, organizational structures and practical experience are also seen as conditions to work with programming.