Abstract
Interest in children’s wellbeing has been steadily increasing across political, social and educational contexts. While the importance of children’s wellbeing–particularly in relation to learning and development–is undisputed, there are conflicting perspectives on what ‘wellbeing’ actually is, let alone how to measure and promote it. The purpose of this paper is to examine the context, complexities and challenges associated with understanding children’s wellbeing–specifically children’s perspectives on their wellbeing in the early childhood setting. This paper argues that in order to support children’s wellbeing in early childhood settings, we need to know how young children subjectively experience wellbeing. This requires the adoption of a constructivist, child-centred approach to the conceptualisation of wellbeing in early childhood research to promote effective programme provision.
Résumé
L’intérêt pour le bien-être des enfants n’a cessé d’augmenter dans tous les contextes, tant politiques que sociaux et éducatifs. Bien que l’importance du bien-être des enfants ne soit pas contesté, en particulier en ce qui concerne l’apprentissage et le développement, il existe des perspectives contradictoires sur ce qu’est réellement le « bien-être » , ne serait-ce que sur comment le mesurer et le promouvoir. Le but de cet article est d’examiner le contexte, la complexité et les défis associés à la compréhension du bien-être des enfants, particulièrement les perspectives des enfants sur leur bien-être dans les lieux d’accueil de la petite enfance. Cet article soutient que pour favoriser le bien-être des enfants dans les milieux de la petite enfance, il faut savoir comment les jeunes enfants vivent subjectivement le bien-être. Pour cela, il faut adopter une approche constructiviste, centrée sur l’enfant, de la conception du bien-être, dans la recherche sur la jeune enfance, pour promouvoir l’offre d’un programme efficace.
Resumen
El interés por el bienestar de los niños ha ido aumentando constantemente en los contextos políticos, sociales y educacionales. Si bien, mientras la importancia del bienestar de los niños -en particular en relación con el aprendizaje y el desarrollo- es indiscutible, hay perspectivas contradictorias sobre lo que “bienestar” en realidad significa, y aún más en la forma de medirlo y promoverlo. El propósito de este trabajo es examinar el contexto, las complejidades y los retos asociados con el entendimiento del bienestar de los niños –específicamente las perspectivas de los niños sobre su bienestar en los lugares de educación para infancia temprana. Este trabajo discute que con el fin de apoyar el bienestar de los niños lugares de educación para infancia temprana, tenemos que saber cómo los niños pequeños experimentan, subjetivamente, el bienestar. Esto requiere la adopción de una aproximación constructivista y centrada en el niño, a la conceptualización del bienestar en la investigación de la infancia temprana, para promover la prestación efectiva de programas.
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Notes
In Australia, and for much of the international early childhood education community, terms such as ‘early childhood’ and ‘young child’ typically refer to the period of a child’s life prior to entry into formal schooling (i.e. birth to approximately five or six years of age). Therefore, early childhood ‘settings’ or ‘environments’ refer to educational and care programmes or services that young children attend outside of the home, which are implemented by early childhood trained professionals.
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Mashford-Scott, A., Church, A. & Tayler, C. Seeking Children’s Perspectives on their Wellbeing in Early Childhood Settings. IJEC 44, 231–247 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-012-0069-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-012-0069-7