FIGURED WORLDS AS AN ANALYTIC AND METHODOLOGICAL TOOL IN PROFESSIONAL TEACHER DEVELOPMENT: How to understand learning processes of pre-school teachers and teachers?

We raise a methodological discussion drawing upon Holland’s et al. (1998) theoretical term Figured Worlds. Our interest is to investigate the potentials of the term in relation to development and research focused on how pre-school teachers and teachers can be supported to change their own practice.
Hasse (2015) and Holland (1998) have inspired our study; i.e., learning is conceptualized as a social phenomenon, implying that contexts of learning are decisive for learner identity. The concept of Figured Worlds is used to understand the development and the social constitution of emergent interactions in intervention projects from the pre-school- and other teachers´ perspectives.
Figured Worlds is ‘‘socially and culturally constructed realm[s] of interpretation in which particular characters and actors are recognized, significance is assigned to certain acts, and particular outcomes are valued over others,“(Holland et al., 1998, p. 52) and gives a framework for understanding meaning-making in particular pedagogical settings.

We exemplify our use of the term Figured Worlds, both as an analytic and methodological tool for empirical studies in kindergarten and school. Based on data sources, such as field notes, photos and transcripts of teachers’ interactions, we sketch results that help us to understand the importance of pre-school- and other teachers´ identifications with specific and new worlds, and to conceive how ´blendings´ of worlds can change their practices.