Populärkultur som kunskapskälla i förskolan

The present study examines how students in preschool teacher education perceive the role of popular culture in preschool education. By focusing on how to increase the knowledge of pre-service prescool teachers’ perceptions of popular culture in preschool, the study is an empirical contribution to early childhood literacy research. Further, the results can contribute to an understanding of how popular culture can be addressed in future preschools. The empirical data consists of focus group discussions with 67 preschool teacher students and individual interviews with seven preschool teacher students. A thematic analysis was carried out. Concepts of dimensions of literacy and funds of knowledge were used in analysis and discussion. The results reveal that participating preschool students perceived popular culture as a source of increased equity, learning, and critical literacy but also as challenging concerning equity and preschool's existing culture and value base. The main conclusion in the article is that future preschool teachers see that, together with a pedagogical idea, popular culture can be seen as a resource among others for learning and developing social competencies. However, the students did not uncritically celebrate popular culture as they highlighted the importance of preschool teachers' competencies regarding creating possibilities for critical reflections concerning popular culture that challenges democratic values.