The child's development environment:the nursery school as a welfare component

Hilde Eileen Nafstad, Norway

The contention that the nursery school* doesnot occupy a natural place in the child's wel­fare situation and life is frequently encoun­tered in recent Norwegian academic dis­course. The nursery school on the contrary issaid to contribute to the alienation andaggravation of the child's surroundings andliving conditions. A common line of argumentseems to be that the government intervenesonly after the local environment has beenseriously debilitated. This can easily result in avicious circle where the local community canno longer rely on its own resources. Publicnursery schools can, it is claimed, lead to fur­ther alienation of the child from the world ofadults. Parents may also feel uncertain whenconfronted by the demands of child rearing asa result of the nursery school. The nurseryschool teacher is regarded as the expert andauthority on the child's needs, a situationwhich will in turn have negative effects on theparent-child relationship.

We agree that the nursery school may havesuch effects. In our own research ('76) wehave seen how parents regard nursery schoolswith feelings of either aggression orineffectuality because of their own lack ofinitiative or feelings of incompetence. Let us.illustrate this with a few examples from asurvey of parents' attitudes about nurseryschools.

Mother 1: " ... They're treated well and alltheir needs are satisfied. I never call to askabout things. They contact me if they'replanning a trip or something like that. Theteacher would tell me if there was something Ishould know. They have parent meetings, butI never attend. It's never been convenient. I'vealways had other things to do. I don't think Iwould have come in any case."

*In Norway the term nursery school covers all types offacilities for preschool children.

17

Mother 2: " ... Leave him off in themorning and pick him up in the afternoonwithout a second thought."

Mother 3: " ... The children were at onetime punished for not tidying up - thought itwas wrong so I told the teacher. I discoveredthat the teacher was grateful that someone foronce had shown some interest in the children'swell-being. It seems as if parents are notinterested ... extremely difficult to get every­one together for a parent meeting."

Other mothers, however, had the followingto say:

Mother 4: " ... It's difficult to call atten­tion to things in the nursery school if I sensethat the children are dissatisfied. X, forexample, was afraid to ask someone to helphim tie his shoelaces because the staff had saidthat the children should be self-sufficient."

Mother 5: " ... The teachers are reluctantto inform us about things that happen andproblems that arise."

Mother 6: " ... There's no point in bringinganything up at parents' meetings. You don'tget any support from the parents or from thestaff. Tried suggesting more frequent parents'meetings once, but nothing happened. Youeventually lose interest when you see how littleis actually accomplished."

Examples 1, 2 and 3 illustrate how parentscompletely relinquish responsibility andinitiative and how the institution's form stiflesor severely limits parental initiative.

While criticism of the type presented abovemust be taken seriously, our conclusion,based on an extensive theoretical approach tothe small child's situation, is that the nurseryschool today represents an important com­ponent which must be taken into accountwhen discussing, planning and improving thechild's situation. We are not primarily refer­ring to the nursery school as it exists today.

18 HILDE E. NAFSTAD

We are of the opinion that it has been all tooexclusively defined as an institution enablingwomen to join the labour force. The child careinstitution of the future must be broadly con­ceptualized as diverse approaches to thechild's situation as well as to the livingconditions and well-being of youth and adults.If the nursery school is to represent a genuinewelfare factor not only for employed parentsof small children but also for the childrenthemselves, we believe that planning anddevelopment of the nursery school must befounded on systematic analyses of children'sdevelopmental environment and the nurseryschool's function as one of several measuresdesigned to satisfy the needs and interests ofthe child.

Accordingly, we define the nursery school'sfunction as the development of the physicaland social structures and environments whichare necessary in order to attend to and serveas a basis for children's well-being. Thestructure of any single nursery school willconsequently vary according to its location,because its tasks vary according to thecharacteristics of the local community. Forexample, a nursery school situated in a traffic­congested urban area with limited access tooutdoor recreation facilities must primarilyoffer the child more acceptable quarters for atleast a few hours as well as secure facilities formeaningful outdoor and indoor activities andwork. In a sparsely-populated rural and farm­ing area where children are largely confined tothe family but where the parents' place ofemployment can offer the child opportunitiesfor a rich outdoor life, the nursery school mustoffer primarily peer-group relationships. Itshould serve as a meeting place where childrenhave an opportunity to interact with age­mates and not only with adults whonecessarily always play the role of the oneswho decide, choose and are more knowledge­able.

Had every child grown up in communitieswhich contained all the components that wehave examined on the basis of our generaltheoretical framework, the need for formalday care arrangements would not exist. But aslong as children suffer because their sur-

roundings are lacking in factors such as mean­ingful activities and peer group relationshipsand marked by unsatisfactory housing con­ditions, .and dangerous traffic, we clearlydefend a government-administered day carepolicy.

We agree that government interventionmay rob local communities of initiative but wedo not believe,however, that this should resultin a de-escalation of government involvementin this sector. As long as large groups ofchildren are denied their rightful welfareclaims, measures designed to diminish suffer­ing, meaninglessness and hazards and toprovide opportunities for self-fulfillment aredeemed necessary. We believe thatgovernment administered day care facilitiesdonot necessarily have such unintended negativeeffects, however. The relationship between theform the nursery school takes and theenvironment of which it is a part willultimately determine whether local resourcesare squandered or parent-child relationshipsimpoverished. .

Any evaluation of the quality or degree ofnaturalness of an environment mustnecessarily be based on an ideal or a norm.The Norwegian norm seems (more or lessexplicitly) to have been the environment foundon an old-fashioned medium-size farm. Wehave elsewhere (Nafstad and Gaarder, 1979)demonstrated why the family farm isinadequate as a model for an analysis of thevaried developmental environments ofchildren in Norway today.

Contradictions in the nursery school's tasks

The nursery school is often viewed as agovernment-administered"measure designed toliberate women and allowing them to join menin the labour force outside of the home. Thedecisive question is of course whether thenursery school can simultaneously have asupervisory and welfare function. Or moreprecisely, can the nursery school benefit theeconomy by liberating parents from dailychild-rearing responsibilities as well as offerthe children a beneficialenvironment and grat­ifying experiences?

THE CHILD'S DEVELOPMENTAL ENVIRONMENT 19

Studies, conducted as far back as the1920's and 30's, have been designed todetermine whether children who were at homewith their mothers all day developeddifferently from children who attended nur­sery school. The studies were primarilyconcerned with the effects on the child'sdevelopment of transferring many of the day­to-day socialization and care responsibilitiesfrom the private to the public sector. Becausethe child had been the family's responsibility,little knowledge was available concerning theeffects of handing over a portion of theresponsibility for the child's care andeducation to collective agencies such asnursery schools. A closer examination ofoverviews and summaries or research resultsin this area (Sj0Iund, 1969 and Moore, 1975)leads us to the following conclusions:

(1) Children seem to thrive within andadjust to different forms of supervision.

(2) The form of supervision dominated bychild-child relations seems to orient themtowards the world of the peer groups and thenorms and values it promotes. A mother-childform of supervision, on the other hand, seemsto engender the child's orientation towards theinternalization of the adults' world and itsvalues and norms.

Because tradition in our culture dictatesthat the child is the nuclear family's respon­sibility, it was important to clarify the effectsof handing over some of the responsibility forcare and education to collective agencies, likethe nursery school. We would, however, liketo emphasize that these studies representmerely a first general approach to the questionof what represents the ideal environment forthe small child. Effect studies can tell usnothing about the actual well-being of thechild, irrespective of whether it is reared athome by its mother or spends most of the dayin a nursery school. The ultimate goal of ourresearch on the child's situation is to gainknowledge and a deeper understanding of thechild's experiences of and reactions to itsmode of existence. This goal necessarily callsfor more direct analyses of home and nurseryschool environments respectively, withoutcomparison as a necessary component. Com-

parison often entails the implicit assumptionthat one of the environments is the mostnatural and consequently the only properenvironment for children. To illustrate let usexamine the controversial issue of whether themother should remain at home when herchildren are small or not. A common ar­gument is that the mother should remain athome because she is an importantpart of the small child's natural environ­ment. And because mother is a partof the natural environment it is impliedthat she also represents the optimalenvironment for her children. As we havedemonstrated (Nafstad and Gaarder, 1979),however, the extent to which a home-boundmother constitutes a beneficial developmentalenvironment is dependent upon factors suchas play and recreation facilities in the family'scommunity. Mother's attitude towards herrole in the home is also d~cisive. An analysisof research relating to mothers andemployment (Etaugh 1974) concludes thatemployment outside of the home does notappear to be a decisive factor per se, Motherswho are content with their situation regardlessof whether they are employed outside of thehome or not seem to create the most beneficialenvironment for their children. Yarrow et al.(1962) have also demonstrated that motherswho remained in the home represent differingenvironments depending on whether theyprefer to remain at home or felt it was theirduty, "duty-conscious"mothers being morestringent in their demands on their children'sbehaviour. We conclude that child-welfare andworking mothers is not an area suited forcategorical stands.

Not only the maternal image has beenlacking in nuances, however, the conceptionof the nursery school as developmental en­vironment has often been characterized byequally unrefined and categorical views. Thebattle for a greater degree of equality betweenthe sexes and consequently for more nurseryschools has both in Norway and various othercountries prevented a more systematic surveyof the content of day care. The only goal hasbeen to increase capacity. The question ofpossible negative consequences of our present

20 HILDE E. NAFST AD

system has been tactically redefined asopposition to nursery schools, opposition towomen's liberation movements, and as hinder­ing a more rapid developmental pace.Progress within the child sector has beengreatly impeded by the categorical assumptionthat our present nursery school systems offerschildren everything they require. The myththat the present system offers every childeverything he or she needs has possibly been anecessary prerequisite for expansion.Hopefully we have now advanced beyond thisstage, and can start a more critical inquiryinto the actual situation of children in nurseryschools. A central question is, for example,whether present-day nursery schools havebeen required to make children invisible,thereby increasing their parents' flexibility,mobility, effectivity and productivity.

The necessity of a normative strategy

This brief presentation has included only afew glimpses and fragments of the com­plicated and complex social reality which con­stitutes the child's developmental environ­ment - an environment which necessarilymust be subjected to systematic scrutiny inorder to develop better or preferably optimalgrowth conditions: The fragments which havebeen presented should nevertheless suffice topersuade the reader that a normative strategyis necessary. Such a strategy, based ongeneral theories of children's welfare andneeds, -would seek to describe how differenttypes of local communities, nursery schoolsand home environments function. Researchon adults' welfare and generaladjustment hashad precisely such a general normative basis.When it comes to children, however, one en­counters more opposition to this approach.This can perhaps be attributed to the emotion­laden values and powerful ideologiesassociated with children's living conditions.Children in this situation are at the mercy ofvarious interests and social forces. In the caseof children it becomes necessary to build on acomprehensive general theoretical found­ation. The model of the ideal childhoodenvironment must not be entirely determined

by, for example, whether nursery schoolchildren demonstrate more social initiativewhen compared to those who do not attendnursery school. This approach wouldnecessarily result in a haphazard, unsubtleand static definition of a good childhoodenvironment.

Choosing general and superordinatetheories of children's welfare and needs as apoint of departure does not mean that adults'welfare and living conditions can be dis­regarded. General models must also containand describe the various relations between thesituation and welfare of adults and children.In an in-depth examination of all nurseryschools in Norway (Nafstad, 1976) weattempted a survey of various aspects of thenursery school derived from a more generalmodel of what both children and adults need.The basic idea behind this undertaking wasthat the nursery school represents a develop­mental environment as well as a place of em­ployment. The nursery school must thereforefulfill certain requirements, e.g., the require­ment that adults and children should haveenough room to work and play. The nurseryschool should in addition offer the individualopportunities for positive personality develop­ment and for the adult professional develop­ment as well. We also took for granted thatchildren as well as adults possessed a limitedamount of resources and that the nurseryschool must not exceed the limits of these re­sources thereby depleting the surplus energyrequired for active participation in family lifeand other domestic and social activities.

Defining the nursery school as a welfaremeasure implies that we cannot and.must notoffer every child an identical set of ex­periences. Children's situation, needs andabilities are varied. Some children come fromhomes marked by harmony and vitality, butwhere the parents are unable to offer adequateplay and recreation facilities. Other childrengrow up in spacious homes with plenty ofroom outdoors as well as indoors, but whereparents may lack vigour and interest becauseof a strenuous life. Still other children comefrom homes where the nursery school isviewed as a necessary solution to a crisis,

THE CHILD'S DEVELOPMENTAL ENVIRONMENT 21

which enables parents to fulfill their socialresponsibilities. The nursery school musttherefore define its structure and its tasks inrelation and with direct reference to theconditions prevailing in the child'senvironment, how the individual familyfunctions, and primarily how the individualc!illd experiences and adjusts to the situation.We have elsewhere(Nafstad 1978) presented amodel of the implications of an approach em­phasizing the individual child's situation andreactions. In that article we were especiallyconcerned with the documentation of howchildren's situation and reaction could bedescribed by analyzing the interactionbetween factors in the nursery school and inthe home environment, We also demon­strated the measure in which children per­ceive and react differently to the same nurseryschool because of different experiences in thehome which predispose them to react inspecific ways in the nursery school. Anapproach based on the child's experiences(perception) of and reactions to its environ­ment does not eliminate the necessity of form­ulating a general theoretical platformdescribing the internal reality of the nurseryschool. On the contrary, it becomes vital tomake the general theoretical framework forthe nursery school's activity as explicit aspossible because of the great variability in therelationship between the individual child andthe nursery school. We have, among other ap­proaches, evaluated the suitability of applyinga general theory of personality as a means ofclarifying the theoretical framework. Wehave, in addition, emphasized the necessity ofbasing practical work with children on whatthe children are able to do and consider im­portant (Nafstad and Gaarder, 1979). Thenursery school must not base its activity on a"deficiency model" according to whichchildren's abilities and qualities arecompared with those of adults and somebecome double losers because they (a) lackthe qualities and abilities of adults and (b) lackthe qualities and abilities of their age-matesfrom the socioculturally dominant group.

Etaugh, C. (1974) Effects of maternal employment onchildren: A review of recent research. Merrill­Palmer Quarterly ofBahavior and Development, 20,71-98.

Moore, T. (1975) Exclusive early mothering and itsalternatives. The outcome to adolescence. Scand. J.Psychol., 16, 255-272.

Nafstad, H. (1976) Barnehagen som oppvekstmilje ogarbeidsplass. Oslo: Tiden Norsk forlag.

Nafstad, H. og Gaarder, S. (1979) Barn, utvikling ogmiijrJ. Oslo. Tiden Norsk forlag.

SjQllund, A. (1969) Biirnehavens og vuggestuensbetydning for barnets utvikling. Kobenhavn:Teknisk forlag.

Yarrow, L. J. et al. (1962) Child-rearing in families ofworking and non-working mothers. Sociometry, 25,122-140.

Si la excuela-jardin de la infancia-ha de representarun elemento genuino de bienestar 0 asistencia social nosolo para los padres de niiios pequefios, que trabajan,sino tambien para los propios nifios, somos de la opinionde que la planificacion y desarrollo de dicha escuela-jar­din deben estar basados en analisis sistematicos delmedio ambiente que interviene en el desarrollo del niiio.Definimos la funcion del jardin-escuela como eldesarrollo de las estructuras y ambientes fisicos ysociales que se necesitan para ocuparse y servir debase al bienestar del nino. Por consiguiente la estructurade una escuela-jardin determinada variara en relacioncon las caracteristicas de la comunidad local.

Analisis fructuosos de las diversas funciones debienestar social para nifios procedentes de diversosmedio ambientes deben, por tanto, (a) examinar lavariacion y complejidad de la sociedad y (b) hacer estoen relacion con las capacidades y necesidades del nino adiferentes niveles de edad. Es mas: tal forma de actuar,basada en teorias generales acerca del bienestar ynecesidades del nino, debe tratar de describir la forma enque diversos tipos de comunidades locales, escuelas­jardines y ambientes familiares actuan,

EI hecho de elegir teorias generales de la asistencia ay necesidades del nino como punto de partida no quieredecir que se deban pasar por alto el bienestar y las con­diciones de vida de los adultos. Los modelos generalesdeben tambien contener y describir las diversasrelaciones entre las situaciones y condiciones deasistencia social de nifios y adultos. En un profundoexamen de todas las excuelas-jardines en Noruega,intentamos llevar a cabo una inspeccion general de losvarios aspectos de la escuela-jardin derivados de unmodelo mas general de 10que tanto niiios como adultosnecesitaban. La idea basica que subyacia a nuestroproposito era el hecho de que la escuela-jardinrepresenta un medio ambiente de desarrollo tanto comoun lugar de empleo. Por consiguiente, la escuela-jardindebe cumplir con ciertos requisitos, es decir, el requisitoesencial en primer lugar, de que adultos y nifios tengan

22 HILDE E. NAFSTAD

suficiente espacio para trabajar y jugar. Por afiadidura,debe proporcionar aI individuo oportunidades para unpositive desarrollo de su personaIidad, asi como en elcasodel adulto, un desarrollo profesional. Hemos dado porhecho, tambien, que tanto los niiios como los adultosposeen una cantidad limitada de recursos y que laescuela-jardin no debe exceder los limites de estosrecursos (tanto para los niiios como para los adultosmermando de esa manera la energia que se requiere parauna participacion activa en la vida familiar y en otrasactividades domesticas y sociales.

No obstante, el hecho de definir la escuela-jardincomo una forma de asistencia social implica que nopodemos ni debemos ofrecer a cada uno de los los niiiosuna serie identica de experiencias. Algunos nifios pro­ceden de hogares donde reina la armonia y la vitalidad,pero donde los padres no pueden sumisistrar facilidadesadecuadas para juego y recreo. Otros nifios se crian enhogares espaeiosos con amplio espacio fuera y dentro dela casa, pero en donde los padres carecen de vigordebido a una vida agotadora. Hay nifios que procedende hogares donde se considera a la eseuela-jardincomola solucion necesaria a una crisis, algo que hace posibleel que los padres atiendan a sus responsabilidadessociales. La escuela-jardin debe, por consiguiente,definir su estructura y su tarea en relacion y con directareferencia a las condiciones prevalentes en el entorno delnino, a la forma en que opera la familia en cuestion ysobre todo a la manera en que el nino determinado ex­perimenta esta situacion y se adapta a ella.

Si les maternelles doivent representer un veritablefaeteur de bien-etre non seulement pour les parents quitravaillent mais aussi pour les enfants, nous croyons queleur organisation et leur developpement doivent wefondes sur des analyses systematiques de l'environne­ment des enfants et des fonctions des maternellescommeI'une des nombreuses mesures destinees asatisfaire lesbesoins et les interets des petits. Nous definissons donela fonction des maternelles comme Ie developpement deI'environnement et des structures physiques et socialesnecessaires comme elements de base pour le bien-etredes enfants. En consequence la structure de ehaquematerneTle variera selon les caracteristique de lacommunaute sociale.

Des analyses fructueuses des tiiverses !ollcliOOS debien-hre des maternelles pour enfants de differents types

d'environnement doivent done: (a) examiner lesvariations et la complexite de la societe, (b) les envisageren relation avec les capacites et besoms des enfantsselon leur age. Un tel plan, base sur ies thboriesgenerales du bien etre des enfants chercherait Ii decrirecomment fonetionnent dilferents types de communautes,les maternelles et I'environnement.

Choisir des theories generales et parfaitementordonnees du bien-etre et des besoins des enfants ne veutpas dire qu'on ne tienne pas compte du bien-etre desadultes et de leurs conditions de vie. Des modelesgeneraux doivent aussi contenir et decrire les diversesrelations entre les situations et le bien etre des adultes etdes enfants. Dans une etude approfondie de toutes lesmaternelles en Norvege, nous avons essaye de rendrecompte de leurs divers aspects selon un modele generaldes besoins des enfants et des adultes. L'idee directriceetait que les maternelles representent un environnementautant pour le developpement des enfants que pour unemploi. Il est done necessaire que les maternellesdoiventremplir certaines conditions commepar e;;;t' 1"necessite pour les adultes et les emams u .nva _ewe:. !l!place pour travailler et jouer. Elles devraient ofTrir aussides possibilites pour un developpement a la fois de lapersonnalite de I'individu et des capacites pro­fessionnelles de l'adulte. Nous avons convenu qu'enfantset adultes possedaient une quantite limitee d'energie etque les maternelles ne devaient pas en depasser leslimites (celles des enfants comme celles des adultes) aVnde ne pas en epuiser Ie surplus necessaire a uneparticipation active a la vie familiale et autres activitesdomestiques et sociales.

Definir les maternelles comme un moyen de bien-etre,implique que nous ne pouvons, nine devons offrir achaque enfant une serie identique d'experiences,Certains enfants viennent de foyers ou regnent harmonieet vitalite mais ou les parents n'ont pas les moyens deleur ofTrir place et facilites pour leurs jeux. D'autresgrandissent dans un environnement spacieux aussi biena l'interieur qu'a l'exterieur, mais ou les parentsmanquent de vitalite a cause d'une vie epuisante.D'autres encore viennent de foyers ou la maternelle estconcue comme une solution necessaire a une crisepermettant aux parents de faire face a leursresponsabllites sociales, La maternelle doit done definitsa structure et ses buts en relation et reference auxconditions de I'environnement de l'enfant, de sa situationfamiliaIe et surtout de ses capacites a faire face a sacondition de vie.