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Research Project »Distinction in Institutional Settings in Early Childhood Education and Care«

Overview

Funding period: 1. Oct. 2011–30. Sept. 2017

Funding agency: DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/German Research Foundation)

Project Director: Prof. Dr. Johanna Mierendorff

Research Associates: Dr. Thilo Ernst; Dipl.-Päd. Marius Mader

Consulting researchers: Dipl.-Päd. Gesine Nebe; Dipl.-Päd. Anna Fangmeyer; Annegret Frindte, M.A.

(Student) assistants: Nikolaus Pawlitzki, B.A.; Kim Wallau

Affiliation: Sub-project 2 of the DFG Research Group 1612 »Mechanisms of Elite Formation in the German Educational System«

The current shift in the function and meaning of Early Childhood Education and Care in Germany is the project's point of reference: firstly, the ongoing transformation of institutional child care into the first level of the educational system and, secondly, its gradual development from a primarily compensatory welfare benefit into a modern, economically driven service. In the course of this recent development the field of institutional child care experienced further differentiation in the forms of child-care supply, including an increase in the number of commercial providers involved. This phenomenon has drawn both professional and media attention and has been widely discussed as the possible renunciation of the established principle of a “Kindergarten for everyone”. The finance model practised in these institutions creates an economic entrance barrier. This is thought to be a deliberate dissociation from an originally egalitarian child-care sector. The research project focuses on the question of how institutional processes of distinction are set in motion and maintained, and how they contribute to the creation of hierarchical structures within the child-care system. Apart from producing organizational order, the project concentrates specifically on the interactional and intersubjective production of coherence among protagonists in the field. Using a mix of research methods, including participant observation, open interviews and document analysis, data will be collected in both commercial and traditional child-care institutions, and subsequently be analysed with reconstructive methods.

Publications

• Mierendorff, Johanna; Ernst, Thilo;  Mader, Marius (2017): Embedded Internationalisation and Privilege in  German Early Years Provision. In: Maxwell, Claire; Deppe, Ulrike;  Krüger, Heinz-Hermann, Helsper, Werner (Hrsg.): Elite Education and Internationalisation. From the Early Years to Higher Education. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 121–137. DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-59966-3_8    .

• Mader, Marius (2017): Kommerzielle Kindertageseinrichtungen und die Rekonfiguration des Professionellen-AdressatInnen-Verhältnisses aus elterlicher Perspektive. In: neue praxis (47) 2, S. 142–154.

• Mader, Marius; Mierendorff, Johanna (2017): Abschied von sozialer Diversität? Hochpreisige Einrichtungen im Elementarbereich. In: Stenger, Ursula; Edelmann, Doris; Nolte, David; Schulz, Marc (Hrsg.): Diversität in der Pädagogik der frühen Kindheit. Im Spannungsfeld zwischen Konstruktion und Normativität. Weinheim/Basel: Beltz Juventa, S. 85–100.

• Mierendorff, Johanna (2016): Elterliche und institutionelle Praxen der Distinktion in kommerziellen  Kindertageseinrichtungen in Deutschland – die narrative Konstruktion von Ungleichheit. In: Diehm, Isabell; Kuhn, Melanie; Machold, Claudia (Hrsg.): Differenz – Ungleichheit – Erziehungswissenschaft. Verhältnisbestimmungen im (Inter-)Disziplinären. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, S. 239–256.

• Mierendorff, Johanna; Ernst, Thilo; Mader, Marius  (2016): Gewerbliche Betreuungseinrichtungen – Diversifizierung im Elementarbereich. In: Schmitt, Annette; Schwentesius, Anja; Sterdt,  Elena (Hrsg.): Neue Wege für frühe Bildung und Förderung im Forschungsfeld Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften und Technik (MINT). Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, S. 125–130.

• Mierendorff, Johanna; Ernst, Thilo; Mader, Marius (2015): Ökonomisierung im Elementarbereich – Eltern als Kunden in hochpreisigen Kindertageseinrichtungen. In: Zeitschrift für Grundschulforschung 8(2), S. 74–85.

• Mierendorff, Johanna; Ernst, Thilo; Krüger, Jens  Oliver; Roch, Anna (2015): Auswahl aus Sicht der anwählenden Eltern im  Zugang zu Kindertagesbetreuung und Grundschule. In: Zeitschrift für Pädagogik 61(1), pp. 24–40.

• Ernst, Thilo; Mader, Marius; Mierendorff,  Johanna (2014): Gewerbliche Anbieter von Kindertagesbetreuung – eine  Systematisierung der Trägerlandschaft. In: Zeitschrift für Soziologie der Erziehung und Sozialisation 34(4), pp. 373–388.

• Mader, Marius; Ernst, Thilo; Mierendorff, Johanna (2014): Modi der Besonderung als Distinktionspraxen im Elementarbereich. In: Krüger, Heinz-Hermann; Helsper, Werner (Hrsg.): Elite und Exzellenz im Bildungssystem. Nationale und internationale Perspektiven (Sonderheft der Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, H. 19). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 149–164. DOI: 10.1007/s11618-014-0527-0.
  Available at SpringerLink: http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s11618-014-0527-0    

• Krüger, Heinz-Hermann; Helsper, Werner; Sackmann, Reinhold; Breidenstein, Georg; Bröckling, Ulrich; Kreckel, Reinhard; Mierendorff,  Johanna; Stock, Manfred (2012): Mechanismen der Elitebildung im  deutschen Bildungssystem. Ausgangslage, Theoriediskurse,  Forschungsstand. In: Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, Jg. 15, H. 2, S. 327–343. DOI: 10.1007/s11618-012-0271-2.
  Available at SpringerLink: http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s11618-012-0271-2    

Working Papers

The EBD working papers are the project’s reports on results and ongoing work (»EBD« is derived from the project’s German title »Elementare Bildung und Distinktion«). The idea is to give updates on our progress and to facilitate discussion of the ideas and results presented in the texts.

Given the workings of academic publishing, it is not always easy to make this intention practical; some of the texts are manuscripts intended for publication in quality-controlled, commercial academic journals. Depending on the phase of the respective publishing processes, some of the texts may temporarily not be available. We try to keep these periods as short as the publishers’ contracts allow and keep our web pages up to date with status information on our texts.

Only our English-language papers are listed here. Please visit our German homepage for a full list of working papers.

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‍EBD Working Paper Intro (english) (07/2014)

The Project »Distinction in Institutional Settings in Early Childhood Education and Care«
Johanna Mierendorff, Thilo Ernst, Marius Mader
EBD-WP-Intro-en.pdf (135,7 KB)  vom 16.03.2015

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EBD Working Paper 4 (03/2015)

»Exclusive« commercial ECEC providers – institutional and familial practices of distinction
Marius Mader, Johanna Mierendorff
EBD-WP4.pdf (145,1 KB)  vom 16.03.2015

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EBD Working Paper 7 (2/2018)

Parents and the moral economies of childcare access in Germany: struggling for places and legitimate selves
Thilo Ernst
EBD-WP7.pdf (181,6 KB)  vom 12.02.2018

Lectures and Conference Contributions

• Mierendorff, Johanna; Ernst, Thilo; Mader, Marius: Commercial Provision and Trends of Modernisation in the German Childcare System. 27.06.2017, »New Stratifications in the Education System? National and International Developments from Kindergarten to University« – Final Conference of the DFG Research Group 1612, Halle (Saale).
• Ernst, Thilo: Parents and the moral economies of ECEC access in Germany. 16.03.2016, GERA[DGfE]-Congress 2016, Kassel.
• Mierendorff, Johanna; Ernst, Thilo; Mader, Marius: Center-based childcare and processes of internationalization. 21.10.2015, »Processes of Internationalization and the Formation of Elites – Challenges and Consequences«: 2nd International Conference of the DFG Research Group 1612, Wittenberg.
• Mierendorff, Johanna; Mader, Marius: The debate about commercial  day care in Germany – first theses about the interrelation between  childhood, day care, and the German welfare market. 09.09.2014, EECERA Conference 2014, Hersonnissos, Greece.
• Mierendorff, Johanna: The transformation of the German day care system – parental and institutional perspectives on commercial day care centers. 23.07.2014, School of Education Research Seminar, Charles Sturt  University, Albury, NSW, Australia.
• Mierendorff, Johanna: ‘This is the best of all day-care centers!’ Parental and institutional practices of distinction in commercial day-care settings. 27.06.2014, Being a parent today – Education, child-rearing and promotion of children and parenting education in western societies with increasing inequalities, Hannover, Germany.
• Mierendorff, Johanna; Ernst, Thilo: Gewerbliche Anbieter im Elementarbereich – Herausforderung des egalitären Konsensus? 12.03.2014, »Traditionen und Zukünfte« – 24. Kongress der DGfE, Berlin, Germany.
• Mader, Marius; Mierendorff, Johanna: ‘Exclusive’ Commercial ECEC-Providers – institutional and familial practices of distinction. 30.08.2013, EECERA Conference 2013, Tallinn, Estonia.
• Mierendorff, Johanna; Ernst, Thilo; Mader, Marius: Praktiken der Herstellung von Exklusivität in frühkindlichen Betreuungsarrangements. 29.06.2013, Elite and Excellence in Education Systems, Wittenberg, Germany.

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