PhD Scholarship in the Field of Intervention as Practice-based Professional Learning in Daycare 2020, Aarhus University, Denmark

The Graduate School at Arts, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University, in collaboration with the Danish foundation TrygFonden, invites applications for a fully-funded PhD scholarship/fellowship in Intervention as practice-based professional learning in daycare provided the necessary funding is available. This PhD scholarship/fellowship is available as of 1 August 2020 for a period of up to three years (5+3) and of up to four years (4+4). The candidate who is awarded the scholarship/fellowship must commence his/her PhD degree programme on 1 August 2020. 

The PhD scholarship/fellowship will be financed by the 2 parties.

The PhD scholarship/fellowship is advertised within the field of Intervention as practice-based professional learning in daycare.

This fellowship is linked to a major research study, 'Educational quality in day care - emphasizing close social relationships between children and adults’, which seeks to augment quality in family daycares by supporting an interactionist approach to early childhood education through continuous professional development (CPD) and practice-based learning for managers and staff. The ultimate goal of this study is to enhance opportunities for all 0-2 year old children to develop to the best of their potential (especially in terms of social-emotional and language development), regardless of their background.

The purpose of this PhD project is to investigate the implementation of this approach.

The student should take an ethnographic, exploratory approach to examining the complex factors that facilitate, hinder, or otherwise influence the implementation. It would be beneficial to use a holistic research design that takes into account both the situational and the broader contextual conditions, such as recent daycare legislation. This project and the associated research study combine a practice-based professional development initiative with an action learning approach that integrates an on-going process for facilitating and supporting organisational change.

The PhD student should include a focus on practice, taking into account practitioners’ experiences and learning processes, collaboration, and organizational relationships. It should stress the combination of reflective practice and situated learning. The PhD project can draw on practice theory (e.g., Nicolini, Schatzi), especially the literature on communities of practice (e.g., Lave & Wenger), and/or change theory (e.g., change laboratories (Engeström), translation theory (Røvik).

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.