Touch cultures, bodily integrity and embodied socialization in preschools: Children’s and educators’ perspectives on physical contact

The present multi-method study aims to further understanding of touch cultures, bodily integrity and bodily socialization in Swedish preschools by examining children’s and educators’ embodied practices and experiences of physical contact in everyday interactions.

Physical contact constitutes a prevalent feature of young children’s lives in early childhood institutions, however, touch between children and educators is a complex issue, often influenced by ‘No touch’ discourse.With a purpose of providing a holistic view of physical contact from participants’ – children’s and educators’ - perspectives, the project proposes a multi-method, qualitative and quantitative study.

We will examine how children and educators initiate and respond (accept, avoid or reject) other’s physical contact. Data include naturalistic video-observations and interviews. It will be collected in 6 multi-age (1-3; 3-5 y.) children’s preschool groups.

Research questions are:What type of physical contact do children and educators use and receive and for what purposes?How are the practices of physical contact related to the age and gender of the child?How do educators socialize, regulate, and respond to children’s embodied conduct?How do children respond to and/or regulate educators’ and peers’ embodied conduct?Educators’ development of reflexive work methods is addressed through focus group discussions.

Data collection is planned 2021-2022; analysis and publications: 2022-2024.