At the present time there is common agreement among academics and practitioners that the notion of inclusion means more than simply access to education. The mere placement of children in mainstream educational environments does not suffice to foster participation and equal opportunities for success. In Greece, this is particularly the case for children with challenging behaviour, the majority of whom are educated in mainstream classrooms. Personal experience shows that students and experienced kindergarten teachers feel ill prepared to manage these children. This, in most cases, results in the children being isolated from the pedagogical process. This form of internal segregation, in addition to the fact that the teacher’s role, and consequently teacher education, is key in promoting inclusive practices, provides the overall rationale of this study. Initial teacher education is a context in which changes in professional values, knowledge and beliefs can and do occur. Within this frame, the present study examined the initial kindergarten teacher education provided to kindergarten teachers with an aim to shed further light into how they can be better prepared to accommodate the needs of their hard-to-manage pupils within mainstream settings. Using an activity theory perspective, the study was designed in such a way so as to allow student teachers to be followed in their transition between university and school through their school placement. This allowed for a coupling of the university and school contexts and thus provided a means of analysing contrasting practices in order to find possible misalignments and contradictions between these two contexts. The aim was to learn more about how these two systems can be better aligned with implications for improving the initial kindergarten teacher education curricula and pedagogy. A qualitative multiple case study design was employed in order to explore student teachers’ experiences of their teaching practice. The participants in the study were drawn mainly from student teachers on a four-year teacher education programme at one of the universities in Greece. Beginning teachers were also observed and asked to reflect retrospectively on their transition from university learning to actual teaching at school. Inadequate preparation, lack of relevant modules and the gap between theory and practice were a few of the constraints that were pointed by this study. However the interest focused on the way these elements were located in concrete contextual conditions. The constraints students and beginning teachers face in developing inclusive practices for their challenging pupils are located at the level of the contrasting practices and discourses of the school practicum. Within these constraints students and beginning teachers adopt particular student teacher/teacher identities with ramifications on the children who have challenging behaviour.

The text describes an important dilemma that we as educators need to manage in our daily work. Every day we are faced with situations in which we encounter children that challenge us in various ways. This text considers how we need to approach these children. The way we assess and approach them will often determine their actions and behaviour. Children form their self-image as a reflection of our behaviors. This can also affect other children in the group to view the particular child in a negative way. It´s of paramount importance to help all children to succeed. This text gives examples and reflections about challenging situations that we meet with everyday. In this essay, aspects are presented and discussed from varying theoretical standpoints regarding issues related to what makes a child act and react the way that they do. In addition, the essay discusses adaptations that can be made in keeping with the curriclum while at the same time giving all children the best conditions in which to play, learn and achieve personal growth.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and highlight preschool teachers perceptions of challenging children in preschool. Furthermore, the study aims to increase knowledge about what´s most important when encountering with challenging children and which strategies and approaches that are advocated. In addition, the study aims to highlight children's thoughts on how they think the preschool's staff can respond to their needs in challenging situations. The analyses is based on a special educational field where the relational and categorical perspective has been used to interpret our material. The study was conducted through qualitative interviews with six preschool teachers and a group of eight preschoolers. The results show that it is difficult to interpret the concept of challenging children in preschool. However, the main results show that challenging children are often described as needing more time and adult attention in preschool than other children. The results also shows that the relationship between children and teachers is important, and awareness is needed when encountering challenging children. Furthermore, the study shows that advocated strategies consist of dividing the children into smaller groups, working preventively and using a low-affective approach. The work requires much planning and adaptation at both the individual, group and organizational level in order for challenging children to succeed and develop in preschool. From a child’s perspective the results show that it is important for the educator to see opportunities and base preschool planning on the child's interest. Finally, the results from a child’s perspective show that it is important that the educator tries to understand why the child becomes challenging and enables interactions between children.

The aim of this scientific essay is to illuminate perceptions and interpretations about children's deviant behavior and how it affects the educators attitudes towards these children. The starting point for the essay is two different self-perceived situations where I experienced that "deviant" behavior and behaviors that causes trouble, referred to as “trouble-making” behaviors, quickly and carelessly identifies as consequences of the neuropsychiatric disability ADHD. The “diagnosis-label” creates a feeling of uncertainty for me because I know from experience that it provides more support and understanding of children's behaviors. At the same time, the instant association to ADHD leads to disregarding of other factors that generate "trouble-making" behaviors. The "problems" are not always connected to a disability, but a diagnosis of a disability provides, in reality, faster, more structured and well-designed support for the child compared to a child who shows "trouble-making" behaviors without a diagnosis. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate other circumstances that can create "trouble-making" behaviors and question function of the diagnosis as a creator of greater understanding of these behaviors. I would like to highlight different perspectives of behaviors that are perceived as deviating and negative, to create opportunities for educators to provide children support without the need of a disability to explain the reason why the child needs support. Greater knowledge of children's "trouble-making" behaviors can lead to more personalized support actions for the child, and to an understanding of how interpretations and prejudices influence children's ability to develop advantageous strategies for managing individual difficulties. The survey is based on the questions: What is “abnormal behavior” in preschool children? Can there be other causes of "trouble-making" behaviors than consequences of a neuropsychiatric disfunction? What significance does a formal diagnosis have for preschool children? / Syftet med denna vetenskapliga essä är att synliggöra föreställningar och tolkningar kring barns avvikande beteenden i förskolan och hur de påverkar pedagogers förhållningssätt gentemot dessa barn. Utgångspunkten för uppsatsen är två olika självupplevda situationer där jag fått känslan av att ”avvikande” och ”problemskapande” beteenden snabbt och ovarsamt identifieras som följder av den neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningen ADHD. Jag själv känner en viss osäkerhet beträffande ”diagnos-stämpeln” eftersom jag av erfarenhet vet att en diagnos ger mer stöd och förståelse för barns beteenden, samtidigt som den hastiga kopplingen till ADHD resulterar i att andra faktorer som genererar ”problemskapande” beteenden negligeras. ”Problemen” är inte alltid är orsakade av en funktionsnedsättning men en diagnos ger, i realiteten, snabbare, mer strukturerade och välutformade stödinsatser för barnet jämfört med ett barn som uppvisar ”problemskapande” beteenden utan en diagnos. Därför är det intressant att undersöka andra omständigheter som kan ge upphov till ”problemskapande beteenden” och ifrågasätta diagnosens funktion som skapare av större förståelse för dessa beteenden. Jag vill synliggöra olika perspektiv på beteenden som uppfattas som avvikande och negativa för att på så sätt skapa möjligheter för pedagoger att ge barn stöd utan att orsaken till att barnet är i behov av stöd måste vara en funktionsnedsättning. Bredare kunskap om barns ”problemskapande” beteenden kan dels leda till mer anpassade stödinsatser för barnet, dels till förståelse för hur tolkningar och fördomar påverkar barns möjligheter att utveckla strategier som är mest fördelaktiga för att hantera individuella svårigheter. Undersökningen utgår från frågorna: Vad är ett avvikande beteende i förskolan? Finns det andra orsaker till ”problemskapande beteenden” som inte har med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar att göra? Vad har en formell diagnos för betydelse för barn i förskolan?