Children’s Right to Participate: How Can Teachers Extend Child-Initiated Learning Sequences?

Abstract

Children's participation is valued in early childhood education but how this is achieved in pedagogy is less obvious. The methodology of conversation analysis is used in this paper to show how specific interactional practices afford opportunities for children to initiate, explore and assert their own perspectives in everyday activities. The analyses illustrate how teachers' practices can encourage child participation through the ways in which teachers respond to and extend child-initiated sequences of learning. Data are drawn from research projects conducted in New Zealand and Australia that explore how teachers construct learning opportunities for children within talk-in-interactions. Three data excerpts of teachers and children, aged from 4 to 6 years, are analysed. The analyses of video-taped interactions reveal that teachers' contributions to (or silences) in interactions and unfolding talk can create particular trajectories of action in early learning environments. Evidence provided by these analyses can inform professional learning for teachers to illustrate how teachers' interactions with children can support children's rights to participation in early childhood education.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: “Where are we at in recognising children’s rights in early childhood, three decades on …?”

“…On the other hand, a group-focussed standpoint may exist, in which children's rights are underpinned by a democratic perspective. For example, implementation and education for children's rights can be linked to theoretical ideas about global citizenship (Pierce et al 2010); an emphasis on the future (Correia et al 2019;Zachrisen 2016); and preferred attitudes of selflessness and altruism (Brantefors and Quennerstedt 2016). The view of "benefit-for-the-greater-good" is often not seen as being relevant in the lives of young children.…”

“…Education programs that have a human rights focus require children to be involved as they have a right to have a say in matters that affect them, and to ensure that they are listened to and taken seriously (Brantefors and Quennerstedt 2016). A consensus on what participation can mean and how it can be best supported in childhood education is important (Lansdown et al 2014).…”

Preschool teachers’ beliefs about child participation and its implementation in practice

“…For participation, the adult must consider the child's point of view [11,15]. Therefore, teachers need the competence of maintaining a dialogue with children, interpreting their intentions, and teaching them the means of expressing their opinions [16]. Difficulties in supporting child participation can be associated with a different understanding of this concept by teachers [11].…”

"In Fact, We Can All Decide": An Action Research on the Participation Right of Young Children

“…It is essential to approach child participation in early childhood from a theoretical perspective, from a convenient viewpoint, for children to be involved in decision-making processes (Church & Bateman, 2019). Teachers have difficulties in taking children's opinions into account in the classroom.…”

“…In a study of Leinonen and Venninen (2012) examining the participation of young children in planning their learning processes at school, it was observed that children did not participate sufficiently in planning, and evaluation was insufficient. Instead of limiting children's participation in decision-making process in learning environments, it is necessary to ensure that they also become an active determinant of the learning process (Church & Bateman, 2019). While considering all these, this study aimed to plan concrete and new arrangements that will encourage child participation and evaluate how these arrangements contribute to children's decisions about the daily schedule, learning environment, and their emotional responses to materials and arrangements.…”