Peer Communities in Danish Nurseries: Exploring Participation and Professional Practice

Peer communities in nursery are important for young children’s developing, health and wellbeing (Ringmose & Skov Hansen 2023, Kragh-Müller & Ringmose 2016). The peer community provides social experiences that the child cannot acquire alone or with adults (Lisina 1985). Løkken (2004) even states that peer communities are the prototype for participation in social communities later in life.

A growing body of research focus on the lives of 0-2-year-olds in daycare (Brostrøm et al. 2016 & 2018, Gitz-Johansen 2019, Grunditz 2013, Hygum & Sørensen 2025, Juhl 2023, Kousholt 2019, Marschall & Munck 2022, Pursi & Lipponen 2020, van Trijp et all 2025, Winther-Lindquist 2021). Yet, there is still, both in a Nordic and international context, a need for more knowledge about young children's peer communities and relationships. Specifically, there is a lack of knowledge about how newcomers, lonely children and children in vulnerable situations in ECEC institutions participate in peer communities, and how social educators can support them (VIVE, EVA 2023).

Theoretical framework and methodology
This presentation draws on the project ‘Peer Communities in Danish Nurseries’ rooted in the sociology of childhood (Alanen 2014, Degotardi & Pearson 2009) and in cultural-historical psychology (Vygotsky 1998, Hedegaard & Fleer 2019). The project is organized in a research track and a professional development track. The research track is designed as a multi-case study (Stake 1995, 2006) with 75 hours of observation of thirty 0-2 years old children, equally distributed in two nurseries. The development track is designed with a participatory framework drawing on design-driven research circles with participation of staff, managers, students and researchers (Koumaditis & Hygum 2024).

The project was carried out from November 2023 to January 2025 exploring the following research questions:

What defines the peer communities for 0–2-year-olds? Which strategies do children use to participate in peer communities, and what types of responses do newcomers receive from experienced nursery children?
How can social educators strengthen children’s participation in peer communities in the nursery

Findings
The research results show three central findings. First, there are at least three types of peer communities in the nurseries framed by three social zones. Second, a group of children stay on the edge or outside the peer communities because of lack of competence to follow the participating codes of the social zones. Third, social educators can strengthen children's communities by reorganizing social zones and their positions and relations towards the peer communities.