The research project "Envisioning Tomorrow - imagining the future in ECEC and elementary school (Tänka framåt - satsa på framtiden inom småbarnspedagogik och skola)", which focuses on sustainable support structures, work climate, staff preparedness, and trauma awareness, is moving along at a good pace. We will soon see the first results from the initial phase of data collection, says Marina Lundkvist, project leader for the research project. In addition to Lundkvist, the research team includes professor Mirjam Kalland and postdoctoral researcher Cecilia Heilala.
The research project, funded by grants from the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and the Brita Maria Renlund Memorial Foundation, is timely considering the new revisions being made regarding support structures for preschool education and elementary school in the curricula. The curriculum changes will undoubtedly affect pedagogy, teachers' work, and their ability to support individual children as well as groups of children, as the support becomes more group-specific. All curriculum changes also impact teachers' work and their need for support to be able to assist children with various challenges, needs, and developmental traumas.
Cecilia Heilala says that it is very motivating and gratifying that the foundations support this research project, since it is thematically relevant both in terms of organizational cultural and national changes within the educational sector, as well as related to societal developments, which affect children and young people in various ways.
In previous studies conducted by the research group (Heilala et al., 2023, 2024), moral stress among staff in early childhood education has been identified, which describes the feelings when you know what the right thing to do is, but you are unable to act upon for some reason, e.g. structural reasons. This moral stress is also linked to the need for support and sustainable leadership. The research project "Envisioning Tomorrow" is a cross-disciplinary project as it focuses on early childhood education, preschool education, and beginner education.