Children’s right to participate in early childhood education: From rights to empirical evidence

Children’s right to participate has gained recognition in society in general, and in various areas of scientific research in particular. Children’s right to participate refers to children’s right to be heard, and to have their perspectives considered, influencing decisions affecting them. The promotion of children’s participation is recommended from an early age, namely in early childhood education (ECE) settings, and it is considered an important criterion for assessing the quality of these settings. Nonetheless, little empirical evidence exists on children’s right to participate in ECE. Therefore, our goal was to provide new insights on this topic. For this purpose, we first conducted a systematic review of the literature on children’s right to participate in ECE, mapping research conducted in this field. Further, we developed measures to assess children’s ideas, and ECE teachers’ ideas and practices towards the promotion of participation. Finally, we documented children’s and teachers’ ideas about children’s participation in ECE, and investigated associations between teachers’ ideas and practices, and children’s perceptions of their participation. Our findings highlight the associations between teachers’ ideas and practices, and children’s perceived participation, suggesting the importance of both objective and subjective properties of ECE settings in promoting children’s participation. We provide an integrative discussion of the theoretical, practical, and policy implications of our findings.O direito de participação das crianças ganhou reconhecimento na sociedade, em diversas áreas do conhecimento e na investigação. A participação das crianças refere-se ao direito de serem ouvidas e terem as suas perspectivas consideradas, influenciando as decisões que lhes dizem respeito. A participação é recomendada desde cedo, nomeadamente em contextos de educação de infância, sendo descrita como um importante critério para a avaliação da qualidade destes contextos. No entanto, existe pouca evidência sobre o direito de participação das crianças em contextos de educação de infância. Com base em quatro estudos, procurou-se investigar e expandir o conhecimento sobre este tema. Realizou-se uma revisão sistemática de literatura sobre o direito de participação das crianças em contextos de educação de infância, mapeando a investigação existente. Desenvolveram-se medidas para avaliar as ideias das crianças bem como as ideias e práticas dos/as educadores/as de infância sobre o direito de participação. Foram documentadas as ideias de crianças e de educadores/as de infância sobre a participação, e investigadas as associações entre as ideias e práticas dos/as educadores/as e as percepções das crianças sobre a sua participação. Os resultados salientam o papel crucial das ideias e das práticas dos/as educadores/as para a participação das crianças, realçando a importância das propriedades objetivas e subjetivas dos contextos. Os resultados são discutidos atendendo às suas implicações teóricas, práticas e políticas

Teacher attunement to preschool children's peer preferences: Associations with child and classroom-level variables

Teacher attunement to peer preferences in preschool was assessed as the level of teacher-child agreement on each child’s preferred playmates. The associations between attunement and children’s age, sex, disability status (with or without disabilities), time spent with teacher, and classroom level variables - group size, emotional support, classroom organization, instructional support, and teacher experience - were investigated. Participants were 1415 children from 86 classrooms (743 boys and 672 girls; Mage = 62.15 months, SD = 8.80), including 108 children with disabilities. Overall, results showed that higher teacher attunement was associated with children’s age (being older) and not having a disability. Implications for educational policies and classroom-level professional development are discussed.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio