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Learning and knowledge developmentin preschool teacher education andpracticumInge Johansson a & Anette Sandberg ba Department of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University,Stockholm, SE, 10691, Swedenb School of Education, Culture and Communication, MälardalenUniversity, Vasteras, SE-721 23, Sweden

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To cite this article: Inge Johansson & Anette Sandberg (2012): Learning and knowledgedevelopment in preschool teacher education and practicum, Early Child Development and Care,182:7, 907-920

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Learning and knowledge development in preschool teachereducation and practicum

Inge Johanssona∗ and Anette Sandbergb

aDepartment of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SE 10691,Sweden; bSchool of Education, Culture and Communication, Malardalen University,Vasteras, SE-721 23, Sweden

(Received 7 February 2011; final version received 25 May 2011)

In Swedish teacher education, all preschool teacher students have to include a school-based element and to take part in a local educational practice, in a preschool or inanother form of educational setting, such as a preschool class or after-schoolrecreation centre. In this study, we have asked a group of supervisors about theirperception of the content in learning, knowledge development and supervision andalso what is going on in learning and knowledge development situations in practice.The theoretical bases for our analysis are theories of interaction and intersubjectivity.The results show that the content of learning and knowledge development is highlyintegrated with the situation and practice. A preschool teacher student’s learning isunderstood by the supervisors as something that occurs in interaction, where childrenand preschool teachers are of great importance. The content of learning is related topractical exercise, observation and reflection together with other preschool teachers.Trying new theories and being curious are also associated with learning.

Keywords: learning; preschool; preschool teacher education

Introduction

This article discusses how supervisors describe vital aspects of the content of learningand knowledge development in preschool teacher education and local preschool prac-tice. The intent was to highlight and gain useful knowledge from experiences reflectedin a critical-incident questionnaire, related to theory.

In the Swedish teacher education programme, all preschool teacher students mustinclude a school-based element, meaning that they must attend and take part in a localeducational practice, in a preschool or in another form of educational setting, such as apreschool or after-school recreation centre. During these periods, each preschoolteacher student has a supervisor. This supervisor is an experienced teacher working inthe preschool or school. The supervisors are part of the daily educational practice anduse their knowledge to guide the preschool teacher students towards a more activereflection and understanding of the basic professional work as preschool teachers.

In this study, we have asked a group of supervisors about their understandings of thecontent of learning, knowledge development and supervision and also what is going on

ISSN 0300-4430 print/ISSN 1476-8275 online

# 2012 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2011.592188http://www.informaworld.com

∗Corresponding author. Email: Inge.johansson@buv.su.se

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in learning and knowledge development situations in practice. Our research questionsare as follows:

. How do supervisors identify and describe their content of learning and knowl-edge development in relation to preschool teacher students’ learning and knowl-edge development?

. How do supervisors describe the essential content in their effort to promotepreschool teacher students’ learning and knowledge development in school-based teacher education?

By asking the supervisors about significant situations where learning can be clearlyseen, in an interpretative way, we can also understand what they see as importantcontent and strategies for their supervision of preschool teacher students to be goodprofessionals.

Theories of interaction and intersubjectivity

The theoretical bases for our analysis are theories of interaction and intersubjectivity(e.g. Marton & Booth, 2000; Saljo, 2000; von Wright, 2000); in which, learningis seen as a process that develops in relationships between individuals in a certainprofessional value-loaded context.

Our interest here is mainly a perspective on learning that has been discussed as aparticipationist perspective (Sfard, 2008). This perspective has been derived fromRogoff (2003) and implies that knowledge can be understood as an aspect of an activityor discourse. The focus is on what constitutes the relations between the individual andothers and how these relations evolve over time.

The sense and significance of social actions and activities are inseparable from thecontext; they emerge moment by moment reflexively creating the context in which theyarise. Participants use and rely upon practices, procedures and reasoning, through whichthey produce social actions and make sense of the actions of others (Melander, 2009).

Intersubjectivity, as defined by Habermas (1995) in his theory of communicativeactions, means processes of mutual agreement. The communicative situation, onwhich intersubjectivity is based, emanates from the principle that man strives for aswell as has the ability to understand each others’ actions. The intersubjectivity traditionhas common ground in the emphasis on the relation between two subjects or more. Inthe concept of intersubjectivity, the mutual exchange of perspectives that creates some-thing between people is stressed (Emilson, 2008).

Learning and knowledge development

As can be seen, interaction and intersubjectivity are vital aspects in promoting learningand knowledge development. The relationship between learning and knowledge devel-opment is a philosophical question that can be of interest for further analysis. It is,however, beyond the scope of this article to study it in depth.

Learning is something that takes place between people in reciprocal relationships.The concept of learning is dynamic in nature and constitutes a process which is con-stantly going on and which involves us. Learning means that our picture of theworld is changing (Saljo, 2005). For example, as we learn the names of plants andanimals, they may have a different meaning for us compared with the past when we

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did not know what they were called. Language and learning are inextricably linked. Inshort, learning increases our capacity in different respects. Learning is often linked tocertain situations. We learn, for example, how traffic flows in different junctions, howlong we have to wait before the lights turn from red to green and so on. This is referredto as situated learning (Lave, 1993; Lave & Wenger, 2005; Wenger, McDermott, &Snyder, 2002).

Another interesting concept here is practice architectures (Kemmis & Grootenboer,2008). Organisations, institutions, local settings and the people in them construct thepractice architectures that give substance and form to what is and can be said anddone, by, with and for whom. The way these practice architectures are constructedshapes practice in a way that forms what is and can be actually said and done, by,with and for whom. These practice architectures are constructed inside or outside anorganisation or other formal setting related to the local practice. The three conceptssaying, doing and relating are important concepts in practice architecture. Saying,doing and relating are connected with our relationship with others. They are stronglyconnected by our experiences that they can become invisible and be taken for granted.

The Swedish preschool and preschool tradition has always had an ambivalent viewtowards learning in a formal sense. This view is determined by learning and how itappears in other parts of the multi-faceted content in preschool and preschool teachers’educational fields. The fundamental question is how much the individuals increase theirabilities to be actively promoted and ‘expected’ to disturb the surrounding environmentas little as possible. The German philosopher Friedrich Frobel’s theory is still observedamong many who work in preschools. Frobel literally saw the child as a flower thatneeded space and nourishment to grow up and develop. Other theories, such as thatformed by Vygotsky (1986), have been influential in recent years, highlighting theactive stimulus of and interaction with the environment as being important for theincrease in the abilities of a child. It is also interesting to note the growing interest inthe biological, genetically programmed development of an individual that alsoexpands his or her awareness. This perspective has been discussed by Damasio (2003).

The Swedish preschool

In Sweden, preschool teachers normally work with children aged one to six years.Preschools care for children aged between one and five years while their parents areworking or studying or if the children need special support. In 2009, 82% of all childrenin the age group of one to five attended preschool (Swedish National Agency forEducation, 2010). In 2003, universal preschool was introduced for all four- and five-year-olds. Preschool class as an own school form begins for children at the age ofsix, and compulsory school begins at the age of seven. Almost 95% of all six-year-olds were enrolled in preschool class and 3% were enrolled in compulsory school(Swedish National Agency for Education, 2009). After-school recreation centres areincluded in the compulsory school as a voluntary part of it. The work in preschooland in the first school years is carried out by mixed professional teams.

The Swedish teacher education

The preschool teacher education programme has been a university-level one since 1977being two years long, and in a new system of Teacher Education established in 2001, itbecame three and a half years long (210 ECTS). The preschool teachers’ university

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degree includes teaching in the compulsory school system in the lower school years aswell as in the after-school recreation centres. The teacher training programme includesthree areas:

(1) General field studies common for all the student teachers, 90 ECTS including atleast 15 ECTS practical experiences.

(2) Major orientation studies, specialised for the particular subject or knowledgearea, at least 60 ECTS including 15 ECTS practical experiences.

(3) Specialisation, 30 ECTS several options to choose either for the depth or forwidening.

The teacher programme stresses a stronger link between research and teachers’ workwith teaching. Every university is free to create courses within these three areas. Theorganisation and the structure of the teacher education programme vary from oneuniversity to another.

Method

The design

In this study, 55 preschool teachers participated. there was a group with a long experience ofworking in a preschool. Most of the preschool teachers (42%) have worked for 21 years ormore in a preschool. Only nine percent have worked for five years or less in a preschool.

The experience of being a supervisor is far more limited than the experience ofworking in a preschool. Forty percent of the supervisors have had this task for oneyear or less.

After studying for 15 ECTS in education during two semesters at a university inSweden, they all have a certificate qualifying them to work as supervisors. Thecontent in the course included practical professional theory, and theories of coachingand mentoring, professional dialogue as a tool for coaching and mentoring, supervisors’and teams’ role in practical education, strategies for tutoring and mentoring, portfoliodocumentation and scientific writing.

This study has been carried out using a method inspired from the critical-incidenttechnique (Flanagan, 1954; Hansson, 1995; Rubin & Rubin, 2004). The structure forthe design had previously been developed by the authors and been used in a study asto how preschool teachers and preschool teacher students experience the concepts oflearning and participation in educational praxis (Johansson & Sandberg, 2008). Empiri-cal data have been sampled from a questionnaire including two critical-incident parts.In the first part, in the critical-incident questionnaire, the participants were asked open-ended questions as to how they understood the concepts of and relationship betweenlearning and knowledge development. In the second part, open-ended questionswere constructed so that the participants had the opportunity to link the concepts oflearning and knowledge development in a real situation in preschools. The focus layon the supervisor’s thoughts in variations of experiences and concepts. The question-naire also covered the background areas of age, gender and the individual’s experienceof working as a preschool teacher and supervisor.

The study began with a description of the study and ethical rules in social scienceresearch, that is, requirements for confidentiality, consent, information and autonomy,highlighting that participation in the study was voluntary (Swedish Research Council,2002). The groups of supervisors received and answered the questionnaire during a

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meeting in the university. The first step was an individual reflection, and the supervisorswrote their answers in the questionnaire. The second step was collective reflection, wheresupervisors were divided into groups of five to six for group discussions. During thediscussions, each participant described what he or she had written in the questionnaire.The group discussions were not included in this study, but they were useful for teaching.

Data analysis

The qualitative analysis was undertaken in four steps of repeated categorisations based ona latent content analysis approach (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). During the initialanalysis phase, the questionnaire answers were read repeatedly in order to gain anoverall impression. After this general analysis, the main analysis was undertaken withthe initial aim of identifying generic perceptions of learning and knowledge development,that is, what was common to all participants. In the analysis, in each question, statementsthat dealt with the same meaning were collected in the same category and named. Thecategories are illustrated with quotations from the answers to illustrate the result.

Validity and reliability

As has been mentioned earlier, this study has been conducted through a critical-incidentdesign. Graneheim and Lundman (2004) proposed that two central aspects must betaken into consideration regarding a study’s validity and reliability when using a contentanalysis. The first aspect is that reliability is easily compromised if the data collection isextensive and continues over a long period of time. They also proposed that in such acase, there is a risk of inconsequence and a lack of coherence. This was not the case inthis study, as the time it took for data collection was not unnecessarily long. Furthermore,the content analysis was undertaken after all the questionnaires had been sampled.

A study’s reliability is related to what extent the result is applicable to other contextsand systems (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). The preliminary results from the categor-isation were discussed among the researchers. A presentation of the findings at nationalconferences for critical feedback has also contributed to ensuring the objectivity of theresearch.

Results

The findings in this study are based on supervisors’ understanding of what learning,knowledge development and content of supervision are. The findings have been cate-gorised and sub-categories are presented in italics (Table 1).

What is learning?

The question as to what learning is was formulated as follows: ‘What is learning to youin the light of what is happening in preschool?’ Learning means

. to develop skills – try something new,

. to increase the amount of knowledge,

. to reflect,

. to engage and

. to imitate.

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The supervisors tended to emphasise that learning also involves a process andconveying knowledge and skills.

To develop skills – try something new

This is mainly about what preschool teacher students recognise as to what children’slearning is. It is about both the specific abilities such as learning to climb and attitudesto be open and to try new paths. A supervisor explained this as follows:

Children are curious and looking for challenges. Children are social and want to be con-firmed and receive praise. These characteristics lead to learning in pre-school.

To increase the amount of knowledge

In this category, responses reflected the content of learning in general. The principles oflearning include both children and adults. They include integrating knowledge andexperience in theory and practice and keeping up with community development.They also include participation in training courses and reading both ancient andmodern literature. A supervisor described this as follows:

To continuously learn new things and learning that occurs through the stimulation ofknowledge is expanded.

To reflect

This is closely tied to acts of the preschool teachers’ experience and practice. The mainthing reading and practising what one reads in order to reflect and evaluate the newknowledge. This can be illustrated with a quotation from a supervisor, which is asfollows:

Reflecting up on what you think you can. Problematize – is it really that way, are thereseveral ways to think about it.

To engage

Learning is also about engagement and being involved in a pleasure-filled way of whatis happening. The answer that illustrates this kind of perception is as follows:through play and planned activities. The content of learning thus includes a significantemotional aspect that promotes learning in a deeper sense.

Table 1. Categories and sub-categories of learning, knowledge development and supervision.

Categories Learning Knowledge development Supervision

Sub-categories

To develop skills – trysomething new

To relate new experiences toexisting knowledge

To discuss andreflect

To increase the amount ofknowledge

To view from a new perspective To supportlearning

To reflect An ongoing process To actively guide

To engage To associate practice and theory

To imitate

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To imitate

Learning can also occur through imitation. A supervisor said ‘You learn by observingwhat others do and then do the same’.

How do preschool teachers regard the social dynamics of learning? To understandhow these statements were interpreted based on how they described the learningprocess itself, we have to consider the two dimensions in the answers to this question.The first is that learning is about personal development and learning something on yourown. The second type of description means that learning of social and interpersonalprocess is in focus. The socially oriented aspect was stressed in, for example, thatlearning happens all the time and in interaction with others. This suggests that learningcan be seen in two main ways, and in the response group, the personal developmentaspect of learning was stressed more. This is in line with theories of interaction,intersubjectivity and learning (see, e.g., Saljo, 2000, 2005; von Wright 2000).

How do preschool teacher students learn during their local practice?

A group of supervisors considered that preschool teacher students learn during thepractical part of education by actively participating and then by collective reflectionon practice together with the supervisor. A supervisor described this as follows:

The preschool teacher students learn by being involved in all activities, do their practicaltasks, testing their ideas and then reflect together with the supervisor and the rest ofthe team.

Even relating one’s own practice to curriculum and other goal documents and alsoto theories is vital. The second major category emphasised that the preschool teacherstudent learn by carrying out systematic observations of activities, which were alsopresented to the supervisor and sometimes to the team.

In conclusion, these perceptions can be highlighted with a quotation from a super-visor as to how preschool teacher students learn during their local practice:

In several ways:† By translating theory into practice.† By observation. Both adults and children.† By reflection and conversations with supervisors and others in the profession.† By being curious and asking questions. The student may try to hold activities on prac-

ticum. Then get feedback from the supervisor. Both good and bad.

The supervisor is very conscious of the content of the learning concept.

What is knowledge development?

The supervisors described the content of knowledge development in the followingcategories:

. to relate new experiences to existing knowledge,

. to view from a new perspective,

. it is an ongoing process and

. to associate with practice and theory.

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The supervisors described that new experiences are related to existing knowledge.New knowledge develops from what they already know as supervisors. Knowledgedevelopment occurs when new experiences are added to old. A supervisor explainedthis as follows:

The idea is to feel excitement and interest, and I see new angles that allow me to thinkover, reflect on old and new, so I feel I have developed.

Knowledge development is about seeing things in new perspectives. An example ofthe responses in this category is as follows:

It’s about Aha-experiences. Suddenly it becomes clearer and you see things from newperspectives. What you didn’t know before is transformed into a new way of seeingthe surrounding world.

Knowledge development is about leaping out of context and daring to try new things.The development of knowledge is an ongoing process. It is about active partici-

pation in a learning process, where preschool teacher students can look back and seethat they have acquired knowledge.

Responses in the category to associate to practice and theory are that the theory andpractice are constantly interpreted and reflected in relation to each other.

The content of supervision

What views do the supervisors have on learning and knowledge development inrelation to preschool teacher students’ learning and knowledge development? Whatimplications do these views have for their role as a supervisor? In this respect, thesupervisors described their relationships and ways of judging the content of the super-vision in various ways, that is,

. to discuss and reflect,

. to support for learning and

. to active guide.

As mentioned previously, the two concepts discussion and reflection are central to asupervisor’s way of looking at what is happening during supervision. An example ofsuch an answer is that given by a supervisor, who said:

I can contribute with my experience and knowledge that I have. These may allow studentsto reflect on. Then we can discuss and question certain things in our practice. The dialoguebetween us is important.

Responses in the category to support for learning indicate that the supervisors have asupportive attitude in a way that leads the idea back to Friedrich Frobel’s maturation-theoretical pedagogical principles. The preschool students are given considerablefreedom to form their own experiences and learn from them. The supervisors’ role isto support and provide feedback. A supervisor said:

I will be incorporated as an aid in the preschool teacher student’s development while she istrying out her own way of handling the local practice. A sympathetic open and positiveattitude from my side is a prerequisite for encouragement, dedication and professionalism.

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This type of answers, that is, to active guidance stress, unlike that of the previouscategory, indicates that the supervisors should be active and provide guidance for thepreschool students in difficult situations. A supervisor exemplified this as follows:

By giving opportunities for many discussions and reflecting on different situations. Ibelieve that one develops both one’s work and as a person. Learning always occursthrough others.

Significant situations for learning and knowledge development in preschools

The results show that the supervisors thought that learning and knowledge developmentsituations occur mainly indoors in preschools, that is, they occur in the playrooms,studios, around the dinner table and, above all, during the circle time. Only 5 of 55supervisors gave descriptions of the outdoor environment as that in their answers. Ofthese five situations, four are situations were pertaining to the forests and one situationwas pertaining to the preschool yard.

When supervisors described such learning and knowledge situations what theymeant is that these are characteristic for learning and knowledge development for pre-school teacher students, and their assumption is that that the preschool teacher studentshave a child’s perspective, but also during situations primarily based on nature,language and aesthetics, that is, situated learning (Lave, 1993; Lave & Wenger,2005; Wenger et al., 2002).

Child’s perspective – children’s thoughts

The supervisors described that the preschool teacher students’ knowledge emanatesfrom various situations, from the children’s thoughts, which they problematise anddiscuss. In these situations, the preschool teachers try to understand children’s thoughtsabout the world around them. The children are involved and have influences in differentsituations. The children are involved in the whole process, preparation, implementationand reflection. The goal for the preschool teacher students is to develop children’sthinking and form a deeper understanding.

It began with the children and the preschool teacher student discussing the images. Theycame to a word that described what was in the picture. The pictures were shown one byone. The preschool teacher student gave all children a chance to talk about the image. Shegave open-ended questions to the children. Together they decided to write a song with thewords that the children had given as suggestions. The song was written down and theimages were used when they sang the song for the rest of the child group. (five children,4–5 years)

This example shows that the preschool teacher student observed the children and gavethe children their view based on their images of the children’s reflection and communi-cation. A preschool teacher student reflects on the situation and how he or she canchallenge the children further with such matters and materials.

The answers indicate the supervisors’ view of the children’s perspective. Theirthoughts can be interpreted as important aspects in their supervision of the teacherstudents in how to be conscious of the children’s way of seeing and thinking abouttheir surrounding world.

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Nature

Learning and knowledge development situations proceed from nature, where childrenexplore their environment but also experiment with it. Typically, the materials are takenfrom the nature into the preschool. There could also be situations where bugs, spidersand reptiles are interesting and that fascinate the children. But it could also beexperimental.

Children and the preschool teacher student gathered in the waterplay area. Where she pre-pared a tray with water and gave buckets to each child, which contained a stone, a cone, acap, a small plastic boat and a leaf. We sat on the floor and looked at what was in thebuckets and discussed what floated and what sank. After that the children tested theirthouhts on what floated and what sank. Then, the preschool teacher student asked thechildren to go and get a thing that floated and one that sank. When the children triedthey made two piles. One pile of the things that sank and one pile that float. Then theydiscussed around the piles and found that heavy things sink and the light things float,but there were exceptions. (three children, 1–4 years)

In this situation, we can see that the preschool teacher student had the children’s ideasand their reflections as a starting point in the experiment.

Language

Supervisors highlighted that learning and knowledge development situations forlanguage, in terms of books, storytelling, reading and writing, documentation andcommunication, are crucial. They pointed out that breakfast and lunch situations aregood opportunities for the preschool teacher students to communicate with the children.Regarding documentation, both children and preschool teacher students photographeddifferent situations. For example, the children photographed their favourite places, andthey photographed their building designs as they had built to re-create similar struc-tures. They made a book that was continuously filled in with new designs. Thepreschool teacher students documented situations such as children’s communication,with paper and pencil, and digital cameras.

The preschool teacher student read a book, the children were very interested. Both in thestory, pictures and letters. The preschool teacher student asked if they wanted to maketheir own book. Yes, they wanted to make a book. They made up their own story anddrew pictures. The preschool teacher student wrote down the text under the pictures. Itbecame a theater play of the book. The children, preschool teacher student and I as asupervisor acted in the play. The other adults and children were the audience. The childrenwere very happy and proud of their fairytale that became a book and a theater play. (fourchildren, 1–3 years)

Aesthetics

In both the learning and knowledge development situations, the preschool teacher stu-dents and the children produced different objects such as fairy tales and instruments.During circle time, the children tried out instruments and made their own melodiesand also the children painted from the themes that they worked with in the preschool.Of significance was that even the preschool teacher students dramatised with thechildren as well as they helped the children and supported them in their role play.

The children had during a long time been interested in the shadow theater because wewere working with light as a project at our preschool. The preschool teacher student

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decided to ask if any children were interested in doing a story and tell stories throughShade Theater. The preschool teacher student sat down with them and they had towrite a story together. They made shadow figures and practiced their narratives diligently.The preschool teacher student observed, led and stimulated the children’s curiosity untilthe work was finished. The children held the shadow theatre performance at circle time. Itwas much appreciated (4 children).

Supervisors’ interpretations as to why these situations have been successful can beunderstood by assuming that the children had a concrete experience and that thepreschool teacher students were able to capture children’s interest, curiosity and con-centration for a long time. The preschool teacher students showed their understandingof children and the situation at the preschool. The preschool teacher students took intoaccount the children’s age and experience. The preschool teacher students discussedand got an understanding as to how they could do things. The preschool teacher stu-dents focused on children’s learning. Through the children’s efforts, the preschoolteacher students could see the stage of knowledge development. This also meant thatthe preschool teacher students had to challenge their own preconceived opinions.

In summary, highlighting the importance of a reflective attitude among thepreschool teacher students in order to make children’s learning and knowledge devel-opment visible is a challenge for the future.

Discussion

In this study, the elaborate description as to what learning and knowledge developmentare shows that the supervisors, in general, are very conscious of their content. This canbe interpreted as that they have a view of learning as a process that means intersubjec-tivity (Saljo, 2000; von Wright, 2000). From this study, it can be interpreted that learn-ing and knowledge development in preschools mainly take place indoors, because itwas made visible that the supervisors predominantly focused on situations in theindoor environment than in the outdoor environment. This shows that learning andknowledge development are traditionally associated with the indoor environment.This is surprising, because the Swedish and the Scandinavian countries are wellknown for stressing the pedagogical importance of the outdoor environment. Thisdemonstrates that there are activities other than learning and knowledge that areconsidered in the outdoor environment.

How do supervisors identify and describe the content of learning and knowledgedevelopment in relation to preschool teacher students’ learning and knowledge devel-opment? The results from our analysis from significant situations for learning andknowledge development show that the content is highly integrated with the situations.From a participationist perspective, learning is a vital part of socialisation to become amember of a community of practice (Rogoff, 2003; Sfard, 2008).

Preschool teacher students’ learning is understood by the supervisors as somethingthat occurs during interaction, where children and preschool teachers are of greatimportance (Marton & Booth, 2000). Learning is about both practical exercise andtrying new theories as well as about being curious, observing and reflecting togetherwith other preschool teachers. This strengthens the idea that preschool pedagogy isgroup oriented, where learning takes place through the practical exercise, observationand reflection. What frames the content of learning is the practice architecture(Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008). In this study, the participants have said thatwhat they do with respect to learning and knowledge development and the relating

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are connected with their relationships with others, that is, practice architecture. Sincewe have not used observations, our data from the critical-incident questionnaire onlyallow us to describe what our informants have said in their own words what they do.This implies that it is fruitful to go further with a stimulated recall method, withinterviews and observations to deepen our knowledge on questions such as thefollowing: How does the supervisor experience the professional knowledge in theeveryday work of the preschool teacher? Professional knowledge occurs when pre-school teachers reflect on and realise their actions and can explain why they do thisin this way. How do preschool teachers know when to utilise their knowledge,declarative knowledge (knowing what), procedural knowledge (knowing how) andconditional and functioning knowledge (knowning when and why)?. Besides analysingand reflecting on actions and situations (techne and phronesis), professional knowledgealso includes taking responsibility for one’s own development by being open to newfindings and ideas in the professional sphere and validate them in recreation to oldways of acting in an evolutionary way. Furthermore, professional knowledge includesproblematising and questioning as well as gradually increasing the challenges for allsubjects involved in a situation. Professional knowledge is developed through curiosity.The vital source in professional knowledge is a constructive critical attitude. What isessential in the relationship between supervisor and preschool teacher student informing professional knowledge? In this study, the supervisors described that learningoccurs during the interaction between the supervisor and the preschool teacherstudent through dialogue, discussion, questioning of the approach, practical guidance,confirmation and feedback and that it is a collegial learning relationship (Cornu &Ewing, 2008).

The participants also stressed that this was done through reflection, that is, the pro-fessional skill to think about your own thinking and thus make evaluation for furtherdevelopment.

How do supervisors describe the essential content in their effort to promotepreschool teachers’ learning and knowledge development in the school-basedteacher education? Supervisors guide students’ learning in practice through discussion,reflection and evaluation about the preschool teacher students’ achievement togetherwith theirs. However, the supervisors allow the preschool teacher students to try alot of activities and learn from their own experiences. It is necessary to make teachingand learning visible. This also implicates that the supervisors and also others involvedin the process of supervision construct the practice architecture when they form thecontent of supervision.

How can supervisors promote preschool teacher students’ learning and knowledgedevelopment in the preschool-based teacher training? The challenge is to really use thecentral concepts such as experience-based learning, curiosity, discussion, reflection andobservation to define and describe their content from a situated and practitioner-oriented perspective. This is an important task for the supervisors as well as for thepreschool teacher students in dialogue.

The understanding that we get through this study can be taken as a basis for adiscussion to problematise and develop supervisors’ thoughts about learning andknowledge development in the preschool-based teacher training. This study gives anopportunity to reflect on how to organise supervision and develop the practical teachingwork, in general, and with regard to preschool teacher students’ learning andknowledge development, in particular. This can also be regarded as a crucial aspectfor developing the professional competence of preschool teachers in the future.

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Notes on contributorsInge Johansson is professor in education in the Department of Didactic Science and EarlyChildhood Education, Stockholm University, Sweden. He has for more than thirty yearsworked with research in early childhood education, transition and the quality of professionalwork in preschool and school. He has written several books.

Anette Sandberg is professor of early childhood education at Malardalen University, Sweden.Her current research concerns preschool teachers’ competence and preschool as the contextfor language development in children. She is also involved in two international research projects“Preschool teacher’s view on children’s learning” and “Support for preschool teachers pro-fessional development”. Her interest in learning and knowledge development can be traced inmost of them.

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