ABSTRACT

This master’s thesis is about early intervention and the significance it has for the practice of social work in daycare centers, when the pedagogues employed there work with early identification of children at risk. The method used is qualitative and six in-depth interviews with pedagogues in five different daycare centers in the Danish municipality of Aalborg have been conducted. The interviews have been done in daycare centers with children in the age range from three to six years. A philosophical hermeneutic method has been used and the aim has been to try to gain insight into the informants’ experiences with and verbalizations of early identification of children at risk. I am using abductive reasoning.

For the analysis of my data, I have applied theoretical aspects from Berger & Luckmann and from Goffman and they reflect a social constructionist view and an interactionist view on deviance and microsociology respectively.

My analysis has shown three main points regarding the practice of social work in kindergartens when the pedagogues work with early identification of children at risk.
• The pedagogues distinguish between perceived risk and real risk. As for perceived risk the identification is based on the child’s social and family background. When it comes to actual risk the identification is based on the child’s behavior at the daycare center. Regarding the identification of risk based on children’s social and family background it leads to a theoretical presumption that to a certain extent the concern is excessive and unfounded. Furthermore, I have found that there is a risk of stigmatization of a group of children based on factors relating to their social and family background.
• The pedagogues cooperate with different players in the process of identifying risk. One of them is the social workers. The cooperation between the pedagogues and the social workers is characterized by the fact that they belong to different “sub-worlds”. That means that they belong to different professions with distinct knowledge about theory and work methods. This can have the implication that they assess risk differently. I have found that the role among the pedagogues in relation to the social workers is best described as indefinable. It can be seen in different ways. Some let themselves be persuaded by the social workers not to make a referral to the welfare services, others choose not to blame the social workers if a case has been referred and nothing happens regarding early intervention. They for example find meaning by blaming it on lack of resources. In general, it can be said that maybe the cooperation between the pedagogues and the social works is more about passing information, or a referral on, than it is about reaching an agreement.
• Another very important player for the pedagogues in the process of identifying risk is the parents. The pedagogues assume a protector role towards the parents, but that can also be viewed from the viewpoint that the pedagogues in that process indirectly make the parents aware that they are deviant.