Sammanfattning Vårt syfte med denna studie är att undersöka hur de intervjuade pedagogerna arbetar med Speciella lekgrupper i förskolan. Projektet Speciella lekgrupper har etablerat sig på vissa förskolor i olika kommuner. För att få en djupare insikt ville vi härmed ta reda på mer hur pedagogerna generellt ser på leken i förskolan. Speciella lekgrupper används som ett verktyg där barn ska lära sig leka. Två pedagoger ingår i projektet och kallar sig för leklotsare. Pedagogerna väljer ut en nybörjarlekare med leksvårigheter och fyra så kallade dragarbarn, dessa barn är ”duktiga” lekare och ska fungera som en förebild för nybörjarlekaren. Syftet är att leklotsarna ska lotsa nybörjarlekaren i samspelet med dragarbarnen. Då vi ville få en fördjupad förståelse samt personliga samtal och åsikter från pedagogerna om deras kunskaper/erfarenheter kring barns lek, barn som inte leker och Speciella lekgrupper valde vi att utgå från en kvalitativ metod. Vi har utgått från semistrukturerade intervjuer där pedagogerna haft möjlighet att ge öppna och välutvecklade svar genom våra frågor och vi har kunnat ställa följdfrågor utifrån deras svar. Vi har använt oss av Foucaults teori om makt när vi har studerat vår empiri. Resultatet visade att pedagogerna anser att leken är viktig för att barnen ska lära sig samspela och fungera i framtida sammanhang. Även att barn ska lära sig leka för lusten och välbefinnandet lyfts i våra intervjuer. Vårt resultat visade att pedagogerna använder sig av olika strategier när de ska nå sitt mål att nybörjarlekaren ska lära sig leka. Dessa strategier är att: pedagogerna kan välja vilka barn som ska medverka i lekgrupperna, på vilket sätt de närvarar i barns lek, hur de väljer att låta sina observationer vara synliga eller inte och att de filmar sina interaktioner med barnen. Nyckelord: barn, förskola, lek, lekgrupp

ABSTRACT “MUSIC IS WAITING FOR YOU:” THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF CHILDREN’S MUSICAL IDENTITY by L. Michelle Mercier-De Shon This phenomenological study of lived experience (Van Manen, 1990) explored the perspectives of four 4th grade children as they live in and live through music to formulate their musical identities. Framed within perspectives of symbolic interaction theory (Blumer, 1969), communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), and figured worlds (Holland, et al., 1998), data were collected using methods consistent with qualitative inquiry. These included: observations of quasi-formal music learning settings, in musical playgroups and during professional musicians’ presentations; close observations of children’s daily school lives; and planned discussion group interviews (O’Reilly, 2005). Findings emerged from the data via a bricolage of existentialist (Morrisette, 1999; Holyroyd, 2001) and interpretative phenomenological analyses (Smith, 2003). Children in my study explored and expressed their musical identities through self-directed engagement across multiple modalities of singing, listening, performing on instruments, and creating music. They engaged with these modalities in individualized and shared ways. Singing was situated, by context and in concert with social and gender comparisons. Listening, performing, and creating encompassed a trajectory from experimentation to intentionality, with continually embedded exploration and musical play. Findings indicated that children in middle childhood may actively shape their musical identities within a dynamic nexus of individualized and social continuums of music experience and learning. These continuums may be understood along three dimensions: development; components, i.e., music participation and learning; and processes. The developmental spectrum of children in middle childhood provides a fluid context for understanding musical identity, revealed not as a fixed entity, but through interweaving elements of their past, present, and future musical lives. Self-directed music participation and learning may shape musical identity and provide a context for its expression through both musical and social roles, as children enact musical behaviors through social interaction. Finally, children’s musical identity may be understood as a process, in which personal dialogue meets external discourses, as children continuously negotiate self-conceptions of musicality within and among their musical worlds. Findings indicate that music teachers may offer opportunities for exploration and musical play as a basis for concurrently nurturing the development of musical identities and fostering musical understanding.

ABSTRACT “MUSIC IS WAITING FOR YOU:” THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF CHILDREN’S MUSICAL IDENTITY by L. Michelle Mercier-De Shon This phenomenological study of lived experience (Van Manen, 1990) explored the perspectives of four 4th grade children as they live in and live through music to formulate their musical identities. Framed within perspectives of symbolic interaction theory (Blumer, 1969), communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), and figured worlds (Holland, et al., 1998), data were collected using methods consistent with qualitative inquiry. These included: observations of quasi-formal music learning settings, in musical playgroups and during professional musicians’ presentations; close observations of children’s daily school lives; and planned discussion group interviews (O’Reilly, 2005). Findings emerged from the data via a bricolage of existentialist (Morrisette, 1999; Holyroyd, 2001) and interpretative phenomenological analyses (Smith, 2003). Children in my study explored and expressed their musical identities through self-directed engagement across multiple modalities of singing, listening, performing on instruments, and creating music. They engaged with these modalities in individualized and shared ways. Singing was situated, by context and in concert with social and gender comparisons. Listening, performing, and creating encompassed a trajectory from experimentation to intentionality, with continually embedded exploration and musical play. Findings indicated that children in middle childhood may actively shape their musical identities within a dynamic nexus of individualized and social continuums of music experience and learning. These continuums may be understood along three dimensions: development; components, i.e., music participation and learning; and processes. The developmental spectrum of children in middle childhood provides a fluid context for understanding musical identity, revealed not as a fixed entity, but through interweaving elements of their past, present, and future musical lives. Self-directed music participation and learning may shape musical identity and provide a context for its expression through both musical and social roles, as children enact musical behaviors through social interaction. Finally, children’s musical identity may be understood as a process, in which personal dialogue meets external discourses, as children continuously negotiate self-conceptions of musicality within and among their musical worlds. Findings indicate that music teachers may offer opportunities for exploration and musical play as a basis for concurrently nurturing the development of musical identities and fostering musical understanding.