On October 23, 2024, Gunnar Magnus Eidsvåg presented findings from the RECOdE project on the development of an MA module ‘Critical Cultural Awareness’ at the Norwegian ECEC research conference. The theme of  the conference was research-based collaboration between university and day care centres for educational innovation in the kindergarten sector. The two-day conference took place at the West Norwegian University of Applied Sciences, Kronstad Campus, in Bergen.

The topic of the lecture was ‘Critical cultural awareness: Collaboration in the development of a master’s course’, which was presented by RECOdE member Eidsvåg together and the kindergarten teachers Bjørghild Hamre and Meron Haile Barka from Jåttå Kindergarten Stavanger. The background to the project and the Master’s programme was a shared desire to investigate how kindergartens can have an integrative effect in societies characterised by migration. Back in 2019, Jåttå University Kindergarten worked with Berit Zachrisen (UiS) to develop an inclusion model for working with children and their families characterised by migration. When the RECOdE master’s programme was to be developed, the project involved the Jåttå University Kindergarten to create a theory-practice transfer. The kindergarten teachers took part in the development of the MA module at the RECOdE meetings in Germany and Ireland, as well as in the trialling of the MA Spring School.

As a result of the collaboration between the university and the kindergarten, it can be said that the collaboration has contributed significantly to the Master’s programme being rated as inspiring by the students (12 Norwegian and 15 international).  The team at Jåttå Kindergarten has received new impulses through the co-operation with the RECOdE project.

Source of Image: https://www.hvl.no/forsking/konferanse/norsk-barnehageforskningskonferanse-2024/