The purpose of this scoping review was to identify studies where young children’s engagement in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings was measured and to investigate conceptualizations and operationalizations of child engagement. The literature search conducted in March 2021 included ERIC, PsychInfo, Scopus and Web of Science databases and it resulted in 5965 articles, of which 286 were included in this review. Eligibility criteria were measurements of child engagement in any formal ECEC setting before starting first grade. Data was extracted about engagement conceptualization, theoretical frameworks, study population, study design, and engagement measurement tools and methods. The results showed variations both in the definitions and in the measurement of child engagement. The most common method of measuring children’s engagement in ECEC was observations by an external observer, followed by teacher surveys. Measures of general child engagement in ECEC have a focus on behavioral aspects of engagement while measures that focus on academic activities are more likely to include additional cognitive and emotional aspects of engagement. Child self-reports were rarely used and only present in measures of academic engagement of young children. About one-third of the identified studies relied on unestablished measures of child engagement. Seventy-seven unique established measures of child engagement were identified.
The participation of all children in preschool activities is the main outcome of inclusive Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The current study used the Child Observation in Preschool (COP) to explore the observed participation patterns in the free play of a sample of 3–5-year-old Swedish preschool children (N = 453), and to examine the characteristics of the resulting clusters in terms of child and preschool unit characteristics. Based on a series of hierarchical and K-means cluster analyses, we identified eight distinct and meaningful clusters that could be ranked from very high to very low observed participation. Four of the clusters indicated average-to-very high observed participation. Two clusters indicated low-to-very low observed participation. The cluster displaying low observed participation had high proximity to a small group including teachers. On average, children in this cluster came from preschool units with significantly more second language learners. The cluster displaying a very low observed participation had low proximity to a small group including teachers. On average, children in this cluster were significantly more often second language learners, and the children came from units with a significantly higher number of resource staff. No significant differences appeared in the number of children with special educational needs across the clusters, although tendencies emerged. The results imply that the children in this sample had a varied degree of observed participation. Two clusters of children appeared to have difficulties in participating in free play activities where second language learners and children from preschool units with more second language learners were more common. Preschool teachers need to identify children who participate less in preschool activities and who might benefit from more teacher proximity. Teachers also need to reflect on how their proximity impacts the participation of children differently and on the type of support they provide when being close to the children.
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