TEACHER AND CHILD INTERACTIONS BODILY COMMUNICATION AND LEARNING This paper deals with bodily communication as an important and often neglected dimension in learning. The focus is on the what- and how-aspects of learning expressed in teachers’ and children’s bodily communication in a semi-structured setting in pre-school. The study is part of an investigation into the quality aspects of learning in Swedish preschool (Sheridan, Pramling Samuelsson & Johansson, manuscript). Thirty-eight work-teams of teachers from different preschools participated in the study. The teams consisted of 105 teachers and approximately 250 children between one and three years old. The data in this study consists of video-observed interactions between the teachers and toddlers in the different preschools. The settings were arranged with a particular structure. The teachers and the children were introduced to a number of buttons in different colours and shapes. The teachers were instructed to interact with the children in the way they preferred but initially they should let the children explore the buttons without intervening themselves. A theoretical framework is the theory about the life-world (Merleau-Ponty, 1962). The life-world is related to a perceiving subject, a subject that experiences, lives in and acts upon the world. An important aspect of the life-world is the body as central to our being-in-the-world. However, the body is not an object – it is lived. The body forms a whole, a system where mind and body cannot be separated. The subject experiences meaning through bodily communication, interpretations and tacit understandings about what is meaningful in daily life. At the same time, the world conveys meaning to the child. Another theoretical inspiration is the concept of “relevance structure” (Schütz, 1972). As human beings we are situated in a sociocultural situation. This situation is a result of layers of intersubjective human experiences, of knowledge and interpretations, organised as the individuals taken for granted knowledge. Yet the sociocultural situation is also defined and interpreted by the individual and is in one sense the individual’s disposable property. The sociocultural situation inhabits and structures future practical and theoretical actions. This structure of relevance decides and gives meaning to both individual and collective activities, knowledge and interpretations. The analysis is based on hermeneutics. The type of understanding investigated is insight into the intentions that teachers and children communicate in their interaction around the buttons (Ricoeur, 1988). Of particular importance is the idea that our body is lived and, as such, central for all our being in the world. The learning experiences are viewed as a totality, where tacit bodily experiences and expressions are of importance (Johansson, 2001). In the context of preschool meanings and interactions are intertwined with the structure of relevance. This means that certain interpretations, activities and knowledge are relevant while others may be not. The expected outcomes are certain common as well as disparate features of the bodily communication between teachers and toddlers. These expressions will be discussed as possible dimensions of learning but they will also be related to the situational structure of relevance. New insights in learning processes in early education will be gained.

The data in this study consists of video-observed interactions between the teachers and toddlers in the different preschools. The settings were arranged with a particular structure. The teachers and the children were introduced to a number of buttons in different colours and shapes. The teachers were instructed to interact with the children in the way they preferred but initially they should let the children explore the buttons without intervening themselves. The analysis is based on hermeneutics. The type of understanding investigated is insight into the intentions that teachers and children communicate in their interaction around the buttons (Ricoeur, 1988). The learning experiences are viewed as a totality, where tacit bodily experiences and expressions are of importance (Johansson, 2001). In the context of preschool meanings and interactions are intertwined with the structure of relevance. This means that certain interpretations, activities and knowledge are relevant while others may be not.

The expected outcomes are certain common as well as disparate features of the bodily communication between teachers and toddlers. These expressions will be discussed as possible dimensions of learning but they will also be related to the situational structure of relevance. New insights in learning processes in early education will be gained.