Children’ s right to participation in early childhood education 1

Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 21(12), Ver. 5, pp. 14-22., 2016

Since the adoption by the UN in 1989 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), children's participation has been one of the most highly debated and examined aspects of it. While there is no consensus on a general definition of children's participation, it is clear that as a concept it relates to many dimensions and processes. The aim of this paper is not to provide an exhaustive presentation of relevant research on children's right to participation in early childhood education sector; its intention is to provide an overview of some up to date researches, to explore how the international guidelines as formulated in the UN documents mentioned, are relevant to early childhood education and attempt to raise some questions and stimulate further reflections. This paper's conclusion is that implementing children's participation in practice is far from imposing of a predefined, fully conceptualized framework on children, or about empowering them and facilitating their agency, but firstly about acknowledging that children are indeed actively participating every day through their own cultural practices and their remaking of themselves and their environments.

Children and Youth Services Review

Children's right to participate is considered pivotal for establishing a culture of democracy and citizenship. Although this not a new concept, its application remains a challenge. This review aims to map peer-reviewed empirical research conducted on children's right to participate, in center-based early childhood education settings, from 1980 on. A systematic literature search was performed and 36 studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings suggest a limited number of publications, conducted mostly in northern Europe countries, in the education field. Regarding definitions and theoretical backgrounds, sociological, legal, democratic, and educational discourses converge. There is a prominence of qualitative studies, a greater focus of research on ideas about participation, and, to a lesser extent, a focus on practices to promote participation. There is more emphasis on teacher's perspectives and practices, with few studies relying on children as informants, and limited sound measures to assess children's participation. Future research should rely on multiple informants, and investigate associations between this right and children's individual outcomes.

The view that children should have a say in and participate in the decision-making of, matters that affect them is now an accepted position when considering research and policy in the early years. This paper reviews the field of child participation in the Australian context to show that, despite growing evidence of support within policy and research arenas, young children’s participation rights in Australia have not been key agenda items for early childhood education. While a significant part of children’s daily experience takes place in classrooms, the actual practices of engaging young children as participants in everyday activities remains a challenge for early childhood education. Participation is an interactional process that involves managing relationships between children and adults. Recommendations include further research into the daily experiences of young children to show what participation might look like when translated to the everyday activities of the classroom and playground.

The International Journal of Children’s Rights

Finland has gone through considerable reforms in early childhood education and care in recent years, with a new Act followed by a new National Core Curriculum (2018). The reforms have implied much more emphasis on both education and children’s perspectives. Because of the changes, we are interested in what role the concept of children’s rights, and more particularly children’s right to participation, has had in this recent development. Our analysis of the recent curriculum in Finland shows three different ways of describing children’s right to participate: social, political and learning dimensions on participation. Moreover, we could see that each dimension contained two poles, oscillating between children’s autonomy and interdependence. We believe that finding new ways of describing children’s rights to participate will help professionals working within ecec to overcome the gap between theory and practice.

Children's Research Digest, 2019

International Journal of Early Childhood

Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2008

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is presented and understood as the primary reference point regarding questions of children's rights. However, the UNCRC is not a neutral instrument deployed to meet the rights of children: it embodies a specific perception of the child, childhood and citizenship. The interpretation of the UNCRC from the point of view of children's legal status emphasises the autonomy of children; the focus is on the rights that children possess. Conversely, the social-political interpretation of the UNCRC addresses the question of how the rights of children can be realised. It is suggested that distinguishing between these interpretations is essential with regard to questions of pedagogy and education.

2013

Given that art 12 is one of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is surprising to find that there was no mention of the voice of the child in the very first draft of the Convention. This article examines the genesis of art 12 and its evolution during the drafting process. The content of participation rights, as they have come to be known, is explored and the concept is set in its wider Convention and international contexts, before some key features of implementation and progress to date are highlighted.

Implementing the Participation Rights Of Children In Institutions, 2009

‘Implementing The Participation Rights Of Children In Institutions Manual’ provides guidance and understanding about the participation rights detailed in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child which has been domesticated in Nigeria in the form of the 2003 Child Rights Act. The CRA 2003 has been domesticated in over 24 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This participation manual introduces and explains various activities which enable child participation from the simplest level of participation to full children's agency. You will find useful information about helping children through the process of decision making. You will find a ladder of participation to help you understand the levels of participation mentioned above and you will find a tool for measuring the level of participation of any particular activity you as an educator choose to use in your classroom or institution. The manual also provides a useful list of the participation rights of children. This mini-manual is an expansion of the module "The Evolving Capacities of Children" which forms part of Local Champions - A Caregivers Manual for At Risk Children in Nigerian Child Institutons published in 2009 with funding from Procter & Gamble Nigeria. Local Champions is the caregiver training manual at the heart of the Good Home Quality Serevice Advocacy Scheme (Good Home Scheme) which includes: monitoring tools for general use in child care and education; monitoring tools for Early Childhood Care and Education and user friendly reporting templates which provide ‘How To’ specimen reports based on evaluations conducted using the manuals from the Good Home. Quality Service Advocacy Scheme™ toolkit. These manuals are: ‘Transitions: Self Audit & Monitoring Tools for Early Years Centres in Nigeria’ and the Good Home Guide: Self-Audit & Monitoring Tools for Child Institutions’. The Good Home Guide reporting template is structured around the 6 ‘child friendly’ criteria introduced by the Guide. The child friendly criteria form the basis of the evaluation exercise. The criteria require institutions to be: healthy, inclusive of all and gender sensitive, protective of all, academically effective for all, participatory and endowed with a committed and effective leadership. The Transitions reporting template is structured around the 4 Good Home judgements which evaluate the 10 Good Home Early Years Requirements (GHEYR) developed by the Transitions project. The template helps measure the implementation of the National Policy on Integrated Early Childhood Development and helps monitor policy based outcomes within the limits of the institution’s care provision. The pilot Good Home Scheme caregivers training program was sponsored by the Human Rights Fund of the Embassy of France Nigeria in 2014. Implementing the Participation Rights of Children in Institutions Paper by Olatoun Williams; Published by Selina Publications Selina House, 4, Idowu Martins Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Mobile: +234 702 520 9415 ISBN: 978-978-919-895-5 is the ISBN number is for Local Champions: A Caregivers Manual for at Risk Children in Nigerian Institutions. Implementing the Participation Rights of Children in Institutions is an expansion of the training module: The Evolving Capacities of Children on page 83 ) Email: [email protected]/[email protected]; Website: www.sponsorachildnigeria.org (under reconstruction)

The New Zealand Annual Review of Education, 2009

Under the current National-led government the combined effects of a new political agenda and a world-wide recession have resulted in a discernible shift in policy priorities. Using a children’s rights-based lens, this paper considers changes in early childhood policy during 2009 and argues that these shifts impact the integrity of the 10-year early childhood Strategic Plan introduced in 2002. They also put in question whether children’s rights to high-quality early childhood education policy are really taken seriously within the policy arena. The issue of government’s role in providing high quality early childhood services is highlighted as one that derives from children’s citizenship rights. The paper concludes that a new critical ecology of the early childhood sector is emerging which uses a children’s rights perspective to evaluate current policy and envision possible futures.