Early childhood development: A question of rights

Abstract

A right to development is one of the basic principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Several articles are specifically about protecting and promoting children's development, and other articles refer to developmental concepts of maturity and evolving capacity. Realizing young children's right to development is informed by numerous sources: cultural understandings, beliefs and values as well as scientific knowledge and theories. I offer two contrasting ways of thinking about children's rights to development. The first is summarised as three 'Ns', emphasising 'normal' development, children's 'nature' and their 'needs'. The second is summarised as three 'Cs': recognising that development is 'contextual', 'cultural' and respecting children's 'competencies'. I explore the potential as well as the limitations of each approach, drawing attention to the tension between universalistic theories and the plurality of pathways through childhood, the respects in which development is a natural versus socio-cultural process, and the implications of recognizing children as active participants, with their own perspective on child development issues, while at the same time ensuring they are adequately guided and protected.

‘They need to … ’: Exploring practitioners’ attitudes in relation to newcomer migrant children’s needs in Norwegian day care

“…Consequently, when dominant discourses, such as rational and autonomous, are used as framing statements (Woodhead, 1997), they serve as substitutes to emphasise children's dependencies and requirement for adult intervention (Woodhead, 2005).…”

How is a research that children want? Hearing the children’s voices during the research process!

“…When children are seen as social actors and have the same rights as the other participants involved in the research, it will be possible to understand the world of children and to announce their voices (Christensen & Prout, 2002;James & Prout, 1990;Sorin, 2005;Woodhead, 2005).…”

Participation et exercice de la citoyenneté des élèves à l’école

“…Les premières formulations de la théorie de la socialisation apparaissent dès lors limitées (Turmel, 2013). James et Prout (1990) proposent un nouveau paradigme, central dans les études sur l'enfance, lequel consiste à considérer cet âge de la vie en tant que construction sociale, un phénomène non pas fondé sur une idée de l'enfance universelle qui traverse des stades de déve-loppement, mais plutôt sur une pluralité d'enfances (voir aussi Woodhead, 2005Woodhead, , 2008. Une des composantes centrales de ce paradigme renvoie au fait de prendre au sérieux les relations sociales qui se nouent entre enfants (Bélanger, 2017 ;Lignier 2014) et de valoriser des approches méthodologiques diversifiées, créatives et en phase avec leurs intérêts (Fielding, 2001(Fielding, , 2004Bélanger et Connelly, 2007).…”