CONTEXT
Children have the right to participate in all matters affecting them, freely expressing their views and having them respected and considered. Young children’s participation is key to developing a culture of human rights, democracy, and rule of law. Therefore, young people’s active participation and decision-making in society must be protected and encouraged from an early age. Even though children’s right to participate is key to education quality, its implementation in early childhood education (ECE) remains a challenge. To support high-quality ECE through the implementation of children’s right to participate, we propose a multilevel professional development approach.
OBJECTIVES
We aimed to strengthen ECE teachers, assistants, and coordinators’:
- knowledge on children’s right to participate
- positive attitudes regarding the design, implementation, and monitoring of practices that promote children’s participation
- ability to identify, design, implement, and monitor practices that enhance children’s right to participate; and
- ability to work together, at multiple levels of the ECE centre, to identify, use, and sustain the individual and organizational resources needed to increase children’s participation.
To reach these goals, we developed four independent but complementary professional development resources:
- a Massive Open Online Course on children’s right to participate in ECE, targeting teachers, assistants, and coordinators;
- a self-assessment tool designed to support teachers in delivering high-quality ECE through participatory practices at the classroom level;
- a self-assessment tool designed to support assistants in delivering high-quality ECE through participatory practices at the classroom level; and
- a self-assessment tool designed to support coordinators in enhancing participatory practices based on organizational resources and supports.
We examined the feasibility of this toolkit, gathering input from end users to inform its development.
PARTICIPANTS
Project activities involved three types of participants: ECEC teachers, ECEC teacher assistants, and ECEC staff with leadership roles. Around 100 ECEC professionals, across four countries (Belgium, Greece, Poland, and Portugal), participated in focus groups to inform the design and content of the Intellectual Outputs, building on expertise from the field. Further, over 100 ECEC professionals, from 36 ECEC centres across the four countries, participated in the feasibility analysis of the toolkit.
ACTIVITIES
Major project activities included:
- focus groups with ECEC teachers, assistants, and coordinators
- preparation of the learning, reflection, and self-assessment tools designed to support ECEC professionals
- implementation of the tools by ECEC centres and professionals in all participating countries and
- use of questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations to document the feasibility of the professional development tools.
EXPECTED RESULTS
We aimed to reach all types of ECEC professionals and centres, including rural and urban communities, the public and private sectors, etc., creating a shared awareness of the importance of children’s right to participate to increase ECEC quality. We expect ECEC professionals:
- to increase their knowledge on children’s right to participate, on the organizational barriers and facilitators that influence children’s participation, on the potential benefits of children’s participation, and on the practices most likely to improve children’s participation
- to develop positive attitudes towards children’s right to participate in ECEC settings
- to develop their competence in identifying, designing, implementing, and monitoring classroom practices and organizational supports and resources that enhance children’s right to participate and
- to work at as team at the classroom and organizational levels to enhance children’s participation.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
We expect long-term improvements in ECEC classroom and centre quality, based on increased reciprocity levels in relationships and interactions among professionals and among professionals and children. These long-term changes are likely to result in increased well-being for children. Importantly, potential benefits of children’s participation include increases in children’s self-esteem, self-efficacy, communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, and decision-making skills; increases in teachers’ respect for children’s ideas, interests, and needs; as well as improved organization and functioning of ECEC centres. Further, improved organizational competence in listening to children’s and professionals’ voices should result in increased levels of perceived procedural justice, increasing leadership legitimacy.
FUNDING 2019-2022
DISCLAIMER
The European Commission’s support for the production of this work does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
CONTACTS
Project Coordinator:
Cecília Aguiar
Administration & instructional design:
Christoforos Karachristos & Elias C. Stavropoulos
Mail us at: child.participation.eu@gmail.com
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