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DEVELOPING PARTICIPATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. 22. 9. 2011. Science day, Faculty of Behavioral Science. Jonna Leinonen (jonna.leinonen@helsinki.fi) Department of Teacher Education University of Helsinki http://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/jonkanga/. Idea of Children’s Participation.
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DEVELOPING PARTICIPATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 22. 9. 2011 Science day, Faculty of Behavioral Science Jonna Leinonen (jonna.leinonen@helsinki.fi) Department of Teacher Education University of Helsinki http://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/jonkanga/
Idea of Children’s Participation • From Convention of the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989) • PARTICIPATION, PROTECTION AND PROVISION • From New Sociological paradigm (e.g. Corsaro, 1996; Woodhead, 2010) • Child as an agent, with voice and knowledge • From Democratic education • Learning to be an democratic and empowered citizen Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro
Participation in Early Childhood Education • Communication and interaction are parts of Participation (Clark, 2005; Greve, 2009) • Participation needs adult’s support (Berthelsen, 2006, Thomas 2002) • Child is competent actor (eg. Nyland, 2009), who has oppinions and views about her own life (eg. Pramling-Samuelson, 2001) • Getting support of initiatives and ideas, safety of learning and experiences of being important from the adults (Venninen, Leinonen & Ojala, 2010) Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro
VKK-Metro and Participation • VKK-Metro is a development center of ECE in Metropolitan Area of Finland • During 2009-2011 the aim was measure and portray and develop further children’s participation • Development is based on reflective practices (Ojala & Venninen, 2010) • Development was measured by survey with 102 questions (9 open ended and 93 scaled questions) answered by working teams (2-5 person in each) Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro
Continues… • Survey explored teams attitudes, routines, ways to act (in both care and education) and teams conceptions about the barriers against participation and the facilitating participation in every day practices • Data was collected in May 2010 (based on pre-research in Jan 2010) and again in May 2011 • N = 74 teams from 21 pilot day care centers • My focus is on changes in every day practices during the year of development Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro
Development of supporting Participation was modeled by: • Variables of Likert-type scale (from 1=Never to 5=Always) were compared between 2010 and 2011 • Shier’s (2001) model of Pathways to Participation was used for dimensioning participation • 5 –dimension structure about how teacher should act to facilitate children’s participation • 1) children are listened • 2) children are supported to express their views • 3) children’s views are taken account • 4) children take part in decision making process • 5) children share power and responsibility in decision making Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro
Children chances to take initiatives in care routines Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro
Reflections of children’s participation from 2011 • “As early as coming to the day care centre in the morning our children have a clear idea of what he / she wants to start doing, with whom and where. It appears in children´s cheerful enthusiasm.“ • “We have stood for the children of our group, bringing children´s perspectives on many issues. We have brought children´s opinions to the meetings of our work community.” • “Watching the everyday situations from a new point of view; as the situations of fertile interaction and as an opportunity to be close with the child.” Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro
What participation brings? • Conceptions about hearing the voice of children through their expresses of joy and communality was growing • Conceptions of children’s competence of making choices were growing • Conceptions about adults presence and interaction with children are essential part of children´s participation were growing • Conceptions about fear of sharing power with children were lowering Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro
Thank You for Your Attention! jonna.leinonen@helsinki.fi http://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/jonkanga/ Jonna Leinonen & Tuulikki Venninen Department of Teacher Education and VKK-Metro