Vanhemmat verkostoneuvottelussa

Authors

• Susanna Huttunen Jyväskylän yliopisto, Finland

Keywords:

communication analysis, keskustelunanalyysi, early childhood education, vanhemmuus, network meeting, varhaiskasvatus, parenthood, verkostoneuvottelu

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to specify what forms of participation are constructed for parents in network meetings with professionals of
early childhood education and health care, and how professionals respond to parent participation. The study was based on qualitative data collected from six multi-professional network meetings. In the meetings the parents discussed the arrangements for their children’s care and rehabilitation with professionals. The children were five or six years old. The analysis of the data was based on the principles of conversation analysis and the methods of discursive psychology. The
different forms of participation, which parents used in the network meetings, were identified and described in this study. It was discovered that the parents’ most
common way to participate in the meeting was silence, while professionals were discussing among themselves. When the parents participated actively in the meeting, they mostly complemented or refined a topic, which the professionals were
previously dealt with, and displayed that they agree with the professionals’ views.
The conversations in the network meetings were dominated by the professionals’
actions. The parents emphasized their child’s academic skills in their descriptions
about her/him. The parents’ initiatives in the meetings rarely resulted in discussions
in this data. Both the parents and the professionals were cautious to deal with
sensitive or possibly controversial topics.