Er trivsel et snydebegreb? -en undersøgelse af professionelles hverdagsforståelser af trivsel

Børns trivsel er gennem de seneste år kommet på den politiske dagsorden hos de institutioner, der møder børn i på tværs af dagtilbud, skole og hjem. Trivsel er dog et mangefacetteret begreb, der ikke let lader sig definere, og denne artikel vil derfor – på baggrund af 17 semistrukturerede interviews – zoome ind på, hvordan pædagoger, lærere, socialrådgivere og andre professionelle forstår og identificerer trivsel og mistrivsel hos de børn, de arbejder med. Artiklen identificerer og diskuterer nogle af de mønstre og ikke mindst modsatrettetheder, der ser ud til at eksistere i de professionelles brug af begrebet og spørger til sidst: Er trivsel – som hævdet af en af de interviewede – i virkeligheden et snydebegreb?

Abstract på engelsk
In recent years children’s well-being has received increased attention in public policy in Denmark and inter-nationally. However, well-being as a concept is defined and operationalized in many different ways both in policy as well as in the academic literature. Professionals interacting with children on a daily basis across different arenas such as home, daycare and school play a particularly important role in creating and ensur-ing children’s well-being. Therefore, based on 17 interviews with various professionals (i.e. kindergarten teachers, teachers and social workers), this article explores how well-being is actually understood and ap-plied in practice, identifying both patterns and contradictions in the professionals’ use of the concept. Based on the observation that the concept is equally multifaceted in practice as it is in policy and research it is dis-cussed if well-being is actually a deceitful concept when applied amongst professionals in their daily prac-tice.