Ett eget utrymme: Barns perspektiv på kontroll i relation till fritidshemmets gränser

This study examines boundaries between after school care often called school-age educare(SAEC), school, and home, focusing on children’s own experiences in relation to institutional order. The theoretical basis of the study is the sociology of childhood and symbolic interactionism. Interviews with 22 nine to ten-year-olds, who are about to leave SAEC, are analyzed showing that the children’s main concern is control, and that the institutional order of SAEC can be understood as a tension between being controlled and having control. Control in relation to SAEC is understood through border work where SAEC is compared with school as well as home. The border to school is blurred in terms of how the children experience formalized teaching and the border to home is blurred in terms of how the children experience leisure. Two aspects of particular interest to the children are control over activities and control over relationships.Keywords: School-age educare, Children’s perspectives, Institutionalorder, Border work, Leisure