”Ja, man kan skylla på dem för det händer så mycket runt dem ändå” : En studie om hur förskollärare bemöter barn som utför kränkande handlingar i förskoleklass

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers face children who they perceive as children with behavioral problems and how they act in the daily work to prevent and counter violations. The study aims to observe how preschool teachers deal with children who they experience as having behavioral problems in the form of aggression. The study also intends to compare two preschool classes in two municipalities where some residential areas are socio-economically vulnerable. For the collection of empirical data, the study was conducted as a qualitative study consisting of interviews with teachers and observations of children and teachers. The two selected schools were deliberately chosen based on geographical areas with known socio-economic vulnerability. The results predict that the preschool teachers encountered situations where difficulties arise, and which can be considered crucial for the children's biological, cognitive, and emotional development. The difficulties highlighted in this study are analyzed with theoretical concepts such as the punctual and relational perspective, the intercultural perspective and theories of socio-economic impact, conflict management, power and norms, aggression, and more. These theories count as significant developmental aspects in children's critical periods. The results show that the teachers in theory share a common view of the prosocial development work with children who are regarded by the preschool teachers as "children with behavioral problems". Despite this, we found significant contradictions that create a distance between what preschool teachers say they do and what they do in practice. The results of this study also show that preschool teachers use methods and strategies, in which children who are perceived as having behavioral problems get reprimanded, are threatened with punishment, and are made invisible.