Preschools play with power : constructing the child, the teacher and the preschool in two Polish childcare institutions

Abstract

This dissertation, situated in the framework of the new sociology of childhood and drawing on Michel Foucault's analytics of power, deals with the ways in which power operates to construct the ideals of a preschool child, a teacher and preschool practice in two Polish childcare institutions in a large city. It argues that in their daily practice, preschools work to reconstruct a hierarchical generational order in which adults are positioned as dominant and children are expected to subordinate. They play therefore a crucial role in constructing children as a minority status group (B. Mayall). The generational order, however, is flexible and undergoes modifications along with changes in the discourses about children, child-adult relations and the role of educational institutions. Moreover, the generational order is constantly reestablished in a preschool daily practice, as children and adults strive to position themselves in specific ways and children challenge their teachers' dominance.