Abstract
Children’s participation in the early childhood education context is a multidimensional issue and educators have a significant role in enhancing participation. In this paper, we focus on the existing challenges to children’s participation and the ways that child care educators can work as teams to meet those challenges. The data were collected with a questionnaire from 1,114 child care teams working in the Helsinki metropolitan area. These teams consisted of almost 4,000 educators who took care of almost 20,000 children. Through ESEM factor analysis, the variables were organized into five factors: Adult–Child Ratios, Professional Skills; Managing Work; Work Practices and Special Needs. The team members felt they had a varying impact on the different challenges: highest on professional skills and managing work and lowest on Adult-Child Ratios. The results offer material for reflecting on practices in early childhood education especially when children’s participation must be developed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asparouhov, T., & Muthén, B. (2009). Exploratory structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 16(3), 397–438.
Bae, B. (2009). Children’s right to participate—challenges in everyday interaction. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 17(3), 391–406.
Berthelsen, D., & Brownlee, J. (2005). Respecting children’s agency for learning and rights to participation in child care programs. International Journal of Early Childhood, 37(3), 49–60.
Clark, A. (2005). Listening to and involving young children: A review of research and practice. Early Child Development and Care. doi:10.1080/03004430500131288.
Clark, A., & Moss, P. (2010). Listening to young children. The mosaic approach. London, UK: National Children’s Bureau and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Corsaro, W. A. (1997). Sociology of childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Dockett, S., Einarsdottir, J., & Perry, B. (2009). Researching with children: Ethical issues. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 7(3), 283–298.
Duncan, J. (2009). “If you think they can do it—then they can.” Two-year-olds in Aotearoa New Zealand kindergartens and changing professional perspectives. In D. Berthelsen, J. Browlee, & E. Johansson (Eds.), Participatory learning in the early years. Research and pedagogy (pp. 164–184). UK, London: Routledge.
Emilson, A., & Folkesson, A.-M. (2006). Children’s participation and teacher control. Early Child Development and Care, 176(3&4), 219–238.
Fathi, T., & Taleb, A. (2012). Job satisfaction among Jordan’s Kindergarten teachers: Effects of workplace conditions and demographic characteristics. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41, 143–152.
Folkesson, A-M & Emilson, A. (2004). Participation and Child’s Perspective. Proceedings of the 6th Conference of the Children’s Identity and Citizenship In Europe Thematic network, Krakow. London, UK: CiCe publication.
Hill, M., Davis, J., Prout, A., & Tisdall, K. (2004). Moving the participation Agenda forward. Children and Society, 18, 77–96.
Hujala, E., Turja, L., Gaspar, M. F., Veisson, M., & Waniganayake, M. (2009). Perspectives of early childhood teachers on parent-teacher partnership in five European countries. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 17(1), 57–76.
Joseph, D., Soon, A., Chang, R. H. L., & Slaughter, S. A. (2010). Practical intelligence in IT: Assessing soft skills of IT professionals. Communications of ACM, 53(2), 149–154.
Karila, K. & Kinos, J. (2012). Acting as a professional in a Finnish early childhood education context. In. L. Miller, C. Dalli & M. Urban, (Eds.) Early childhood grows up. Towards a critical ecology of the profession. Series: International perspectives on early childhood education and development, vol. 6. London, UK: Springer.
Kirby, P., Lanyon, C., Cronin, K. & Sinclair. R. (2003). Building a culture of participation, Research Report, National Children’s Bureau (NCB), http://partner.ncb.org.uk/dotpdf/open_access_2/participation_report.pdf. Accessed 11 September 2012.
Lanigan, J. D. (2011). Family child care providers’ perspectives regarding effective professional development and their role in the child care system: A qualitative study. Early Childhood Education Journal. doi:10.1007/s10643-010-0420-2.
Mayall, B. (1999). Children and childhood. In S. Hood, B. Mayall, & S. Oliver (Eds.), Critical issues in sociology research (pp. 10–24). Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Morrow, V., & Richards, M. (1996). The ethics of social research with children: An overview. Children and Society, 10, 90–105.
Nyland, B. (2009). The guiding principles of participation. Infant, Toddler Groups and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In D. Berthelsen, J. Browlee & E. Johansson, (eds.), Participatory learning in the early years. Research and pedagogy, (pp.164–184). London, UK: Routledge.
Ojala, M., & Venninen, T. (2011). Developing reflective practices for day-care centers in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. Reflective Practice, 12(3), 335–346.
Rodd, J. (2004). Leadership in early childhood. Berkshire, UK: Open University Press.
Sheridan, S., & Pramling-Samuelsson, I. (2001). Children’s conception of participation and influence in pre-school: A perspective of pedagogical quality. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2(2), 169–194.
Shier, H. (2001). Pathways to Participation. Children and Society, 15, 107–117.
Sinclair, R. (2004). Participation in practice: Making it meaningful, effective and sustainable. Children and Society, 18, 106–118.
Smith, A. B. (2002). Supporting participatory rights: Contributions from sociocultural theory. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 10, 73–88.
Sommer, D., Pramling Samuelsson, I., & Hundeide, K. (Eds.). (2010). Child perspectives and children’s perspectives in theory and practice. Milton Keynes, UK: Springer.
Statistics Finland, (2009). Lasten päivähoito (Children’s day care). http://www.stakes.fi/tilastot/tilastotiedotteet/2010/Tr32_10.pdf. Accessed 9 May 2012.
The National Curriculum Guidelines on ECEC in Finland, (2005). http://www.thl.fi/thl-client/pdfs/267671cb-0ec0-4039-b97b-7ac6ce6b9c10. Accessed 3 Dec 2011.
Vehkalahti, K., Puntanen, S. & Tarkkonen, L. (2006). Estimation of reliability: A better alternative for Cronbach’s alpha. Reports on Mathematics 430. University of Helsinki.
Venninen, T., & Leinonen, J. (2013). Developing children’s participation through reflective practices. Asian-Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 7(1), 1–19.
Venninen, T., Leinonen, J., Ojala, M., & Lipponen, L. (2012). Creating conditions for reflective practice in early childhood education. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 6(1), 1–15.
Woodhead, M. (2006). Changing perspectives on early childhood: Theory, research and policy. International Journal of Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood, 4(2), 1–43.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Venninen, T., Leinonen, J., Lipponen, L. et al. Supporting Children’s Participation in Finnish Child Care Centers. Early Childhood Educ J 42, 211–218 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-013-0590-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-013-0590-9