Abstract
With the immigrant share of 15%, the focus in Iceland is on ensuring educational settings are prepared to respond to the needs and resources of immigrant children and their families. This chapter builds on the ideas of professional learning communities and Leading from the Middle (LfM) and discusses case study research on interprofessional collaborative ECEC practices in Iceland. The aim was to explore the development of the collective inquiry between teachers, immigrant counsellors and other professionals and its impact on inclusion of immigrant children in ECEC. The data was collected from a multicultural team in one municipality through interviews, documents and observations and analysed through content analysis.
The findings shed light on the importance of including diverse actors in developing ECEC practices that ensure all children’s well-being, participation and learning. For a professional learning community to develop and nurture it is crucial to move from sharing knowledge to creating new knowledge. Reform work based on a common ideology, trust between professionals and belief in each other’s competences can have a holistic impact on children’s education and upbringing.
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Óskarsdóttir, E., Wozniczka, A.K., Guðjónsdóttir, H. (2023). Developing Interprofessional Collaboration: Learning Communities in Early Childhood Education and Care in Iceland. In: Alisauskiene, S., Bahdanovich Hanssen, N., Kairienė, D. (eds) Interprofessional and Family-Professional Collaboration for Inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care. Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34023-9_7
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