Doctoral defense in Educational Siences: Bryndís Gunnarsdóttir

Bryndís Gunnarsdóttir defends her PhD thesis in Educational Sciences from the Faculty of Education and Pedagogy, University of Iceland:

Toddler Sociality: Co-constructing the peer group through embodied interactions

The oral defence takes place Thursday, November 27th, at 13.00 pm in the Aula, Main Building, as well as in live stream.

Opponents are Dr. Annukka Pursi, Assistant Professor at the University of Helsinki, Finnland and Dr. Anne Greve, prófessor við the Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.

Main supervisor is Dr. Amanda Bateman professor at Birmingham City University, England, co-supervisor is Dr. Sally Peters, dean at University of Waikato, Nýja Sjálandi. Expert on  doctoral committee and supervising teacher is Dr. Hrönn Pálmadóttir, former associate professor at the School of Education, University of Iceland.

Dr. Karen Rut Gísladóttir, head of Faculty of Education and Pedagogy will conduct the ceremony.

About the project:

This PhD research project explores toddlers’ sociality and competence in peer interactions, focusing on their use of embodied strategies to actively participate, co-construct their peer group, create a sense of togetherness and form a ‘mutual we’. Conducted in a toddler room within an early childhood education and care (ECEC) setting in Iceland, the study applies ethnomethodology (EM) and multimodal conversation analysis (CA) to showcase their active engagement and sophisticated social behaviours.

The project consists of three sub-studies presented as research articles. The first investigates toddlers’ embodied strategies for initiating interactions, particularly gaze and touch. The second examines how humour and environmental resources are employed to initiate and sustain peer interactions. The third explores how toddlers observe and imitate their peers in order to showcase their understanding of ongoing play activity. Together, the studies highlight toddlers’ agency in shaping relationships and peer culture, providing unique and valuable insights into the new and emerging area of toddler sociality.

Data were collected over nine months using participant observations, video recordings, and field notes. Interactions were transcribed following multimodal CA conventions, providing detailed insights into toddlers’ embodied strategies and social navigation. The findings demonstrate the value of ethnomethodology and multimodal CA for conceptualising toddler sociality and competence in ECEC contexts.

This research has implications for policy and practice by advocating a nuanced understanding of toddler sociality and the importance of supporting peer interactions. While teachers’ roles were not directly studied, the findings suggest that recognising toddlers’ embodied engagement can help educators better support and enhance social experiences in ECEC.