The aim is to contribute knowledge partly about teachers views about their work with children’s belonging and inclusion in after-school educare (SAEC) partly about how the teachers approached a development work within the framework of ULF. The following research question guides the study: What do teachers emphasize and prioritize regarding their work with children’s belonging and inclusion in educational practice?

Theoretical framework

Theoretically, the study is based on Nira Yuval-Davies' (2011) theory of the politics of belonging and her analytical framework including the three inter-related dimensions: categorization, identification, and valuation.

Methodological design

Methodologically, the study is based on a participant-oriented approach based on an interactive research model (HELIX, 2009). Two groups of teachers from different after-school settings as well as their assistant principals participated in the project, all together 14 participants. The data consists of recorded conversations from a total of six group discussions in seminars, as well as two group interviews.

Expected conclusions / findings

The findings show that the teachers prioritize and highlight an activity-based work through councils to support children's participation and inclusion in educational practice. Furthermore, the group is used as a tool in the teachers’ work for children's belonging. The teachers appear to be active and present when supporting belonging and they believed in a scientific basis for their work. The two groups of teachers handled the development project in different ways, which is described in terms of inductive and deductive approach.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

Research on education provides the opportunity for exchanges of knowledge and experience between Nordic researchers. This in turn leads to exchanging experiences in developing environments to develop and test sustainable collaboration models between academia and the school or school system regarding research, school activities and teacher education.