Scripting civilisation through kindergarten space: a social-spatial analysis

The state's role in early childhood education reflects dual policy intentions between intending social change and seeking to preserve the existing social order. We argue that kindergartens give a unique opportunity to study the hitherto understudied role of space in the civilising meeting between people and public institutions. We explore how social-spatial settings stimulate children's activities during a kindergarten day and with what implications for progression towards adulthood. We identify how kindergartens materialise space and arrangements shaping children's social interaction with kindergarten professionals, each other, parents, and physical frameworks. The article is based on about 200 hours of observations of socio-spatial settings, organisation of service, social interactions, and informal conversations, in 14 kindergartens located in Denmark and Brazil as well as more than 400 photos. We find that kindergartens script and ritualise social interaction following principles of adaption to existing rules (banking education) and social emancipation (problem-solving education). Our analysis shows that emancipatory practices were mainly observed in the more prosperous kindergartens of each country. The article contributes to the limited literature on the importance of socio-spatial frameworks for understanding the public organisation of public policy and civilising processes.