Norwegian ECEC staff’s thinking on quality of interaction

Abstract

This study presents Norwegian ECEC staff members’ thinking on quality of interaction. Open-ended interviews were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis based on the Caregiver Interaction Profile scales. Findings are that ECEC staff members include both basic care aspects of interaction and educational aspects of interaction in their thinking, but weigh them differently. Immediate responses focussed mainly on seeing, meeting, supporting and communicating with children, characterized as sensitive responsiveness, and an aspect of basic care interaction. After prompts, the focus was still on the above-mentioned aspects, but thoughts characterized as educational aspects of interaction also featured. They focused on verbal communication, mainly as a social tool, linked to sensitive responsiveness and rarely expressed thoughts about child development theories or objectives in the Norwegian framework plan. Their own role beyond basic care aspects was seldom mentioned, and they seemed to hold a ‘taken for granted attitude’ to children’s learning and development.