Musik i förskolan

Sammanfattning: The objective of this graduate work is to gain a better understanding in how pre-school educators are able to work with music in their pre-school activity to promote child development. We also want to enlighten possible factors for the development of children based on music and to form our own ideas of whether teachers choose to apply music in their didactic practice or not. The point of this essay has been to attempt answering on what importance music makes for children's development and learning in pre-school, and how teachers could work with music in pre-school in order to promote children’s development. Our data consists of six interviews and two observations realized at a pre-school in Södertälje. We took heed from the theories laid out by Lev Vygotsky's which describe four different levels of development that includes educational development in social interaction between teacher and child. Our choice of this theory is inspired by our seeking deeper understanding of Vygotsky's theory´s application to the aesthetic approach in the interaction in meaning making and learning. The result of our study confirms previous theory and research in that music as a form of expression has a major impact on children's development. Music creates a powerful learning approach that can be used when a child learns to apply their skills in language and vocabulary, motor development, and social interaction. The results of our qualitative interviews and observations show that pre-school educators´ experiences are consistent with previous research findings regarding the importance of music in children's development during their pre-school years. This may indicate that musical expression can give children yet another tool of expressing themselves while developing their skills and competencies.