Children’s drawings speak a thousand words in their transition to school

Abstract

Children’s views have often been supplementary to those of adults in research on children’s lives. With growing awareness of the Rights of the Child, children are being engaged as experts in their own lives, that is, young people who have valid perspectives on the things that matter and are important to them. In this study, a draw–write–tell activity was used to capture children’s understandings of transition to school. A Vygotskian view of drawing was adopted, with drawing used as a mediating tool for children to make meaning of experiences and thoughts and express these to others. Children’s drawings and explanatory narratives were thematically analysed in a social constructivist paradigm. Children shared their friendships and feelings about aspects of school and home, and their growing awareness of school life. Drawings were supported as a useful tool for understanding children’s views of transition to school and capturing changes in their feelings, knowledge and independence at this important time.

Creating a Child-Friendly Environment: An Interpretation of Children’s Drawings from Planned Neighborhood Parks of Lucknow City

“…These also encourage children to take time to respond to the question, and they can convey their perspectives through a combination of verbal and nonverbal means [116] even better than adults [120]. Drawings by children provide us with a 'window' into their feelings, thoughts, and emotions, primarily since they represent an image of the child's mind [124,131,132]. Drawing methods more quickly and easily capture social data from and about children [108].…”

“…Children's perspectives and interests are understood through research that uses visual methods [108]. Drawing can help children share more relevant knowledge [124,133]. The utilization of drawings is an efficient method of research with children [134,135].…”

“…Oral consent for participation was obtained from children, and they were also made aware that they could leave at any point and their identity would be kept confidential [112,126]. The United Nations, advocating for children's participation rights [142] in the 'Primary Key' to ethical research [124], stated that researchers should understand children's body language, respect their concerns about not participating, offer breaks if children become restless, and allow them to leave if they wish to [124]. These suggestions were followed when conducting the research.…”

“…They were also asked to write up some notes explaining their drawings to support the analysis. Many research scholars have collected such written notes to avoid any biases during the analysis process [101,116,124,125]. All the drawings were discussed with a panel, consisting of five psychologists [55].…”

“…Gökmen & Menconi used the children drawing method to investigate whether nature is an important aspect in the creation of child-friendly cities [122,123]. Catherine Kaplun captured children's views of transformation to school through a thematic analysis of children's drawing with explanatory narratives [124]. Loureiro also explored children's drawings to improve the school environment as per children's perspectives [125].…”