Identifying interactional routines in the work of early childhood educators: the case of children's drop-offs at childcare facilities

This contribution focuses on the interactional routines that structure the work of educators when children arrive at an early childcare facility, accompanied by their parents. It aims to gain a better understanding of how the participants coordinate themselves during these drop-off situations and the resources they mobilise in the context of these brief encounters. In order to highlight recurrent elements and identify interactional routines, the approach seeks to present and discuss specific methodological procedures. In continuity with research on interactional analysis in professional contexts, empirical data were collected, consisting in video-recorded verbal and non-verbal interactions taking place when children and their families arrive at two early childhood institutions. These drop-off situations are analysed in both their temporal and multimodal dimensions, using a step-by-step methodology. Detailed descriptions of individual cases are combined with analyses of series of contrasting situations and their characteristics. To conclude, the ingredients of interactional routines are discussed, as is their role in the organisation of the work of early childhood educators.