Digitalization of Danish Daycare Institutions
(2025) TKAM02 20241Division of Ethnology
- Abstract
- Fatima, f, 34, parent: “It is a small home for our children. They spend many hours here. To us, it is not just daycare. We don’t just come here and drop off our children and say goodbye, then come back in a few hours. They have to feel that this is a home to them”.
This ethnographic study of Danish daycares analyses how information is being shared between parents and daycare staff, how conflict is dealt with and how cultural values are mediated. Digital technologies and media are becoming more economically accessible and user-friendly (Pink, Sarah. 2006:19). However, their impact on everyday communication is complex.
Through methods such as observations, in depth interviews, photo logs and participant observation this study will dive... (More) - Fatima, f, 34, parent: “It is a small home for our children. They spend many hours here. To us, it is not just daycare. We don’t just come here and drop off our children and say goodbye, then come back in a few hours. They have to feel that this is a home to them”.
This ethnographic study of Danish daycares analyses how information is being shared between parents and daycare staff, how conflict is dealt with and how cultural values are mediated. Digital technologies and media are becoming more economically accessible and user-friendly (Pink, Sarah. 2006:19). However, their impact on everyday communication is complex.
Through methods such as observations, in depth interviews, photo logs and participant observation this study will dive into the challenges facing daycare institutions today. With the introduction of new technology, newly implemented policies, budget cuts and cultural shift in society, daycares
now face a new set of challenges which I shall attempt to highlight. Both parents, staff and managers express a wish for smooth communication and a strengthened cooperation between Daily staff and parents for the sake of children’s development.
In step with a general rise in digitalization of the Danish society, the communication within daycare institutions have undergone significant change in recent years. Newly introduced digital platforms such as Aula have become an integral part of daily communication in daycares. Whereas previously
notice boards, paper handouts or verbal communications were the main form of information sharing between parents and daycare staff, the majority of information is now shared via digital platforms. This shift has led to new ways of creating, strengthening and maintaining relations between families
and daycares. However, these new opportunities also poses new challenges which may affect daycare practices and the social dynamics around children.
The current wave of automation has been referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. A part of which is large-scale automation of everyday lives. The purpose is supposedly to make daily Life smoother and more efficient. (Rahm, Lina & Kaun, Anne. 2022:23).Neil Selwyn argues that, in terms of educational institutions, the role of new technology has the potential to enhance the work and reduce the workload by easing administrative processes. (Selwyn, Neil. 2021:100).
On the one hand, digital communication provides a quicker and more flexible access to communication, which strengthens parents involvement in the daily lives in daycares. Digital technology can increase transparency in institutions decision-making processes and daily routines, which can potentially strengthen trust between parents and institutions. Recently, digital translating tools, have also been applied in situations where staff and parents are not able to speak the same language which can enable an inclusion of parents of different linguistic backgrounds. However, the challenges which follow along digitalization of communication include a more distanced relationship, reducing face-to-face communication, which traditionally has been viewed
as the cornerstone of the relation between daycares and parents.
New questions arise on how digitalization affect social relations and if digitalization potentially also can be viewed as a form of surveillance of staff.
Also the risk of families with limited access to digital tools and limited skills in how to use them, might lead to social exclusion or a lesser involvement in their children’s daily life.
Another challenge that arises is when staff and parents are not able to communicate in the same language. In a continuously globalized world with a growing multiculturalism, many families in the danish daycare system have a different linguistic background and language barriers in Daily communication can become a significant obstacle for effective communication. In these cases, the use of digital translation tools often play a significant role.
In the daycare Mariehønen, where I conducted my fieldwork, more than 50% of the parents were first generation immigrants into Denmark, from various different backgrounds, who did not have Danish as their first language, and about one third of the parents did not speak Danish at all. Therefore, digital translation tools were taken into use on a daily basis.
Digital translation tools are able to smoothen the communication when a common language is not shared. These tools can contribute to making parents from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds feeling included and able to transfer important daily information between parties. But even though digital translators can offer a quick solution to the challenge, it also comes with its own set of new dilemmas. How exact is the translation in conveying difficult pedagogical conceptsand sensitive subjects of a child's development? Can technology replace the human factor in relation making? Is there a risk of digital translators reinforcing misunderstandings instead of lessening them when cultural nuances are lost in translation?
In this thesis I intend to explore on how digitalized communication affect parent-staff relations in daycares as well as both parties experience and involvement. Through an ethnographic study of one daycare institution I shall illuminate the possibilities and challenges arising in the introduction of
new digital communication and translation tools. My thesis will also discuss the pedagogical arguments for and against the rise of digitalization and how this might affect the social cohesion
around the child. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9206805
- author
- Kaarsberg Wiitanen, Therese LU
- supervisor
-
- Rui Liu LU
- organization
- course
- TKAM02 20241
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Daycare, Aula, digitalization, parenting, communication, photographs, institutionalization, translation, child rearing, pedagogical practices, cooperation, language, inclusion, education, families
- language
- English
- id
- 9206805
- date added to LUP
- 2025-07-14 13:11:01
- date last changed
- 2025-07-14 13:11:01
@misc{9206805,
abstract = {{Fatima, f, 34, parent: “It is a small home for our children. They spend many hours here. To us, it is not just daycare. We don’t just come here and drop off our children and say goodbye, then come back in a few hours. They have to feel that this is a home to them”.
This ethnographic study of Danish daycares analyses how information is being shared between parents and daycare staff, how conflict is dealt with and how cultural values are mediated. Digital technologies and media are becoming more economically accessible and user-friendly (Pink, Sarah. 2006:19). However, their impact on everyday communication is complex.
Through methods such as observations, in depth interviews, photo logs and participant observation this study will dive into the challenges facing daycare institutions today. With the introduction of new technology, newly implemented policies, budget cuts and cultural shift in society, daycares
now face a new set of challenges which I shall attempt to highlight. Both parents, staff and managers express a wish for smooth communication and a strengthened cooperation between Daily staff and parents for the sake of children’s development.
In step with a general rise in digitalization of the Danish society, the communication within daycare institutions have undergone significant change in recent years. Newly introduced digital platforms such as Aula have become an integral part of daily communication in daycares. Whereas previously
notice boards, paper handouts or verbal communications were the main form of information sharing between parents and daycare staff, the majority of information is now shared via digital platforms. This shift has led to new ways of creating, strengthening and maintaining relations between families
and daycares. However, these new opportunities also poses new challenges which may affect daycare practices and the social dynamics around children.
The current wave of automation has been referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. A part of which is large-scale automation of everyday lives. The purpose is supposedly to make daily Life smoother and more efficient. (Rahm, Lina & Kaun, Anne. 2022:23).Neil Selwyn argues that, in terms of educational institutions, the role of new technology has the potential to enhance the work and reduce the workload by easing administrative processes. (Selwyn, Neil. 2021:100).
On the one hand, digital communication provides a quicker and more flexible access to communication, which strengthens parents involvement in the daily lives in daycares. Digital technology can increase transparency in institutions decision-making processes and daily routines, which can potentially strengthen trust between parents and institutions. Recently, digital translating tools, have also been applied in situations where staff and parents are not able to speak the same language which can enable an inclusion of parents of different linguistic backgrounds. However, the challenges which follow along digitalization of communication include a more distanced relationship, reducing face-to-face communication, which traditionally has been viewed
as the cornerstone of the relation between daycares and parents.
New questions arise on how digitalization affect social relations and if digitalization potentially also can be viewed as a form of surveillance of staff.
Also the risk of families with limited access to digital tools and limited skills in how to use them, might lead to social exclusion or a lesser involvement in their children’s daily life.
Another challenge that arises is when staff and parents are not able to communicate in the same language. In a continuously globalized world with a growing multiculturalism, many families in the danish daycare system have a different linguistic background and language barriers in Daily communication can become a significant obstacle for effective communication. In these cases, the use of digital translation tools often play a significant role.
In the daycare Mariehønen, where I conducted my fieldwork, more than 50% of the parents were first generation immigrants into Denmark, from various different backgrounds, who did not have Danish as their first language, and about one third of the parents did not speak Danish at all. Therefore, digital translation tools were taken into use on a daily basis.
Digital translation tools are able to smoothen the communication when a common language is not shared. These tools can contribute to making parents from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds feeling included and able to transfer important daily information between parties. But even though digital translators can offer a quick solution to the challenge, it also comes with its own set of new dilemmas. How exact is the translation in conveying difficult pedagogical conceptsand sensitive subjects of a child's development? Can technology replace the human factor in relation making? Is there a risk of digital translators reinforcing misunderstandings instead of lessening them when cultural nuances are lost in translation?
In this thesis I intend to explore on how digitalized communication affect parent-staff relations in daycares as well as both parties experience and involvement. Through an ethnographic study of one daycare institution I shall illuminate the possibilities and challenges arising in the introduction of
new digital communication and translation tools. My thesis will also discuss the pedagogical arguments for and against the rise of digitalization and how this might affect the social cohesion
around the child.}},
author = {{Kaarsberg Wiitanen, Therese}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Digitalization of Danish Daycare Institutions}},
year = {{2025}},
}