Management of Children’s Participation in Preschool Education

Aija Ozola

and Aina Strode

Faculty of Education, Languages and Design, Rezekne Academy of Technologies, Atbrivosanas al. 115, Rezekne, Latvia

Keywords: Children's Participation, Early Childhood Education, Educational Management, Children's Rights.

Abstract: Educational institutions are institutional frameworks, in which the child learns values and norms of the society,

learns to socialize. The phenomenon of the concept of children’s participation is its genesis in the political

framework set by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, relatively less – by scientific sources, thus

making the substance of the concept legally regulated from the very beginning. The topicality of the issue is

determined by the need in the management guidelines based on theoretical findings, setting out how to ensure

the implementation of children’s participation in practice in preschool education and thus contribute to closing

the gap between political decisions and educational practices. The aim of the article is to determine the

directions for the management of children's participation in early childhood education, based on scientific

theoretical knowledge of comprehension of the concept of children's participation and management theories

in the context of early childhood education, to conduct an empirical study of the situation and to give

suggestions for the management of children's participation in early childhood education.

1 INTRODUCTION

Inclusion of ever younger children in social life

activities outside the family has become a trend of the

modern society. A high proportion of children in

Latvia from their earliest years become participants

of the education system – learners. Consequently, the

role and responsibility of the institutions, in the

context of the study – preschool educational

institutions, in the upbringing of children from early

childhood increases, undertaking a large part of

functions that were previously traditionally attributed

to the family. At the same time educational

institutions are institutional frameworks, in which the

child learns values and norms of the society, learns to

socialize.

Latvia is also among the countries of the European

Union, where the child has a statutory right to

preschool education at an early age (OECD, 2016),

namely, from eighteen months of age (Saeima, 1999).

These factors particularly highlight the issues of

children’s participation in the formal institutional

context.

Participation means active, conscious and

voluntary involvement of persons in decision-making

and in the daily life of their community, which is one

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3751-0392

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9702-5834

of the basic preconditions of a democratic society

(Hart, 1992). The phenomenon of the concept of

children’s participation is its genesis in the political

framework set by the UN Convention on the Rights

of the Child, relatively less – by scientific sources,

thus making the substance of the concept legally

regulated from the very beginning. Children’s

participation in the field of children’s rights is

inextricably linked to Article 12 of the UN

Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has

become as some sort of symbol of children’s

participation. The Convention on the Rights of the

Child (1989) highlights several aspects of children’s

participation: (1) the right of every child to freely

express his or her views, (2) the adult’s obligation to

pay due attention to the child’s views, (3) increasing

influence of the child’s views with age and maturity,

(4) the right of the child to express his or her views

freely, to receive and to share information.

The topicality of the issue is determined by the need

in the management guidelines based on theoretical

findings, setting out how to ensure the

implementation of children’s participation in practice

in preschool education and thus contribute to closing

the gap between political decisions and educational

practices.

Ozola, A. and Strode, A.

Management of Children’s Participation in Preschool Education.

DOI: 10.5220/0011359200003350

In Proceedings of the 5th International Scientiﬁc Congress Society of Ambient Intelligence (ISC SAI 2022) - Sustainable Development and Global Climate Change, pages 363-371

ISBN: 978-989-758-600-2

363

2 METHODOLOGIES

The aim of the study: based on the examination of the

concept of children’s participation, to determine the

directions for the management of children’s

participation in preschool education, to carry out

empirical study of the situation and to provide

recommendations for the management of children’s

participation in preschool education.

2.1 Methods

Study methods: theoretical: (1) analysis of scientific

theoretical literature; (2) analysis of documents.

Empirical: data acquisition method – survey. Data

processing and analysis methods: (1) descriptive

statistics, (2) correlation analysis (Pearson correlation

coefficient).

Empirical study objectives:

 to develop a measurement instrument for the

study of children’s participation in preschool

education;

 based on the preschool education teachers’

self-assessment data, to study the situation regarding

the implementation of children’s participation in

preschool education in Latvia;

 to study the correlation of children’s

participation criteria and indicators with the

pedagogical work experience of preschool teachers,

the level of education and the number of children in

preschool education groups.

2.2 Instruments

A questionnaire for preschool education teachers was

developed based on the criteria and indicators set out

for children’s participation. The measurement

instrument includes nine statements that the

respondents evaluate according to the scale, as well

as demographic information about the respondents –

gender, age, level of education, pedagogical work

experience in preschool education, as well as

information on the language of instruction of the

educational institution and the implemented

educational programme, the age range of the learners,

the number of children in preschool education groups.

The order of the statements in the questionnaire is

not grouped according to criteria, but they are

arranged randomly, in order not to make the

hierarchical nature of the indicators within each

criterion obvious and thus not to influence the

responses of the teachers. The Likert scale used in the

questionnaire is based on the evaluation of the

frequency of each statement and allows the

respondent to choose one of the levels: (1) almost

never, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) often, (5) almost

always.

2.3 Participants

The study included 129 teachers working in preschool

educational institutions in Riga (Latvia).

The method of descriptive statistics was applied

in the analysis of the survey sample. The age analysis

of the respondents was performed according to the

allocated conditional age groups. All age groups are

represented in the survey sample, the most significant

part of the respondents (33.3%) are teachers aged 35

to 44. The study involved teachers ranging in age

from 18 to 66 years. The majority of the respondents

are currently acquiring or have acquired higher

pedagogical education (93.8% in total), the

proportion of teachers with a master’s degree is small

– 8 respondents (6.2%), there are no teachers with a

doctor’s degree among the survey respondents.

The pedagogical work experience of the

respondents in preschool education ranges from 0 (the

teacher works less than one year) to 46 years. The

largest number of the respondents is in the groups

with less than one year of pedagogical work

experience in preschool education (32.6%) and 1-5

years of work experience (25.6%), while the smallest

number of respondents (5.4%) is in the group with 6

to 10 years of pedagogical work experience. The large

number of young teachers among the respondents is

not considered to be a characteristic trend in

preschool education in Riga, but rather follows from

the fact that a part of the questionnaires was obtained

not from the teachers in preschool education

institutions, but from the teachers in higher education

institution within preschool pedagogy study

programmes.

Teachers also indicated the number of children in

their preschool education groups. As the regulatory

enactments in Latvia do not set a strict number of

children in a group, it can vary greatly. The majority

of the respondents (57.4%) work in groups with 17 –

20 children.

3 RESULTS

Definition of Criteria and their Indicators for

Children’s Participation in Preschool Education.

The scientific theoretical findings accumulated in

the world in the period from 1990s, view children’s

participation as a multilevel and multidimensional

concept. In the scientific context, these models can

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364

rather be considered as schematic representations of

the content of the children’s participation concept, as

they do not describe the scientifically justified

interrelationships of components in structural or

procedural aspects, but rather show attempts to

schematize the diversity of expressions in a simplified

way. One of the reasons for the above is the function

of developing the created models – practical

applicability and comprehensibility for practitioners

of different levels, whose activities are related to

ensuring the rights of the child.

One of the first attempts to describe and structure

the content of the children’s participation concept is

the ladder of participation (Fig.1) by Roger Hart

(1992).

8. Child-initiated, shared

decisions with adults

Degrees of

participation

7. Child-initiated and

directe

6. Adult-initiated, shared

decisions with children

5. Consulte

informe

4. Assigne

ut informe

3. Tokenis

Non-

participation

2. Decoration

1. Manipulation

Figure 1: Ladder of participation (Hart, 1992).

Describing the ways in which children interact

with adults, R. Hart (1992) views children’s

participation as a multilevel formation, where

decision-making is the central element. From a

scientific point of view, the efforts of the critics to

exclude levels that do not correspond to the essence

of participation seem logical, however, given the

initial applicability of the concept mostly in the social

and political field only, the wish of R. Hart to outline

a broader context that would allow to distinguish the

real participation of children from the formal one in

the discussion of artificially-created children’s

participation and decision-making is understandable.

Fill Treseder (1997) offers a representation of the

participation levels, which clearly follows from the

idea of the ladder of participation of R. Hart. F.

Treseder has not included R. Hart’s levels of non-

participation in his development, and has refused to

use the hierarchical arrangement of levels, thus

showing that children’s participation does not have to

be developed level by level in a certain order and not

always it must be sought to achieve the highest degree

of participation. Rather the level of participation that

best suits the needs of the situation must be chosen in

each situation.

Harry Shier’s (2001) development – Pathways to

Participation – includes five levels: (1) Children are

listened to; (2) Children are supported in expressing

their views; (3) Children’s views are taken into

account; (4) Children are involved in decision-

making processes; (5) Children share power and

responsibility for decision-making. H. Shier offers

not only a theoretical concept, but also a practical

assessment of each level of participation, adding

questions that allow to identify three “O’s” –

Openings, Opportunities, and Obligations. For

example, at Level 1 “Children are listed to” the

following questions are asked:

 Openings – Are you ready to listen to

children?

 Opportunities – Do you work in a way that

enables you to listen to children?

 Obligations – Is it a policy requirement that

children must be listened to?

Another theoretical development that should be

highlighted in the preschool context is the model of

participation developed by Laura Lundy (2007)

(Fig.2).

Figure 2: Model of participation (adapted from Lundy,

2007).

According to L. Lundy (2007), “voice is not

enough” in children’s participation, thus in addition

to “Voice” there are three other categories – “Space”,

“Audience” and “Influence”: the child can express his

or her opinion (voice), a favourable environment

(space) is created for the child’s participation, adults

listen to the child’s views (audience), the child’s

views are taken into account (influence).

The first step in the conscious implementation of

children’s participation is to study the situation in the

external and internal environment of the educational

institution. A useful instrument in the assessment of

the external environment of the educational

institution is the Child Participation Assessment Tool

provided by the Council of Europe (2016), the

applicability of which is most important at the

municipal level. While the assessment of the situation

in the internal environment of the educational

INFLUENCE

AUDIENCE

Right to express

aview

Right to have views

given due weight

Article 12

Management of Children’s Participation in Preschool Education

365

institution shall be carried out in accordance with

certain criteria and indicators.

Based on the analysis of the content of the

Preschool Education Guidelines (Regulations of the

Cabinet of Ministers No. 716, 2018), three areas are

the most important in preschool education: (1)

children’s participation in the creation of educational

content, (2) children’s participation in the creation of

learning and play environment, (3) communication

encouraging children’s participation. The identified

areas were set as the criteria for the assessment of

children’s participation. While the development of

eligible children’s participation indicators was based

on the previously analysed schematic developments

of children’s participation (Hart, 1992; Lundy, 2007;

Shier, 2001; Treseder, 1997).

Firstly, the characteristics of participation levels

from different schemes were synthesized into a single

five-step structure, creating a new hierarchy of

children’s participation levels in the context of

preschool education (Table 1), then three of the

participation levels were transformed into indicators

in each criterion.

Table 1: Children’s participation levels in preschool

education and their genesis.

Children's

participation

levels

Models of children's

participation

Hart,

1992

Trese

der,

1997

Shier,

2001

Lund

1. Children are

heard and

supported in

expressing their

views



2. Children are

involved in the

discussion



3. Children's views

are taken into

account in the

decision-making

process



4. Children initiate

and manage their

activities



5. Children make

their own

decisions and are

responsible for

them



The last two levels of participation were

interpreted as less relevant in the formal context of

preschool education and, thus, were not included in

the development of the indicators.

It is essential that the hierarchy of levels, similarly

as emphasized by F. Tresseder (1997), does not have

to be understood as the need to consecutively

implement all five levels. The hierarchy in the

structure is expressed only in the gradually increasing

influence of children’s views on the decision-making

process.

At the same time, it should be noted that in the

informal context, children undeniably initiate

“projects” themselves and make independent

decisions from an early age, first of all – in their play,

as pointed out also by R. Hart (2008).

Therefore, for the implementation of children’s

participation in preschool education, three criteria and

three indicators for each of the criteria were set out

formulating the characteristics of participation,

according to the content of the certain criterion (Table

2).

Table 2: Children’s participation criteria and their

indicators.

Criteria Indicators

Children's

participation in

curriculum

development

The opinions of children are taken into

account in the development of the

curriculum, children together with

adults are involved in making decisions

about the curriculum

Children are involved in discussing the

planned curriculum

Children are heard and supported in

expressing their views on the content of

learning

Children's

participation in

creating a

learning and

play

environment

Children's opinions are taken into

account in creating a learning and play

environment, children are involved in

making decisions about the learning and

play environment together with adults

Children are involved in discussing the

improvement of the learning and play

environment

Children are heard and supported in

expressing their views on the learning

and play environment

Communication

that encourages

children's

participation

Children's opinions are taken into

account when planning daily activities,

children are involved in daily decision-

making together with adults

Children are involved in discussing

their own and other children's work

Children are heard and supported in

expressing their opinions on a daily

basis

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The developed criteria and their indicators were

applied in the course of further study as a theoretical

basis for the development of the teachers’

questionnaire. The theoretical and practical

development of the study can also serve as a useful

support for the development of teachers’ self-

assessment questionnaires in preschool educational

institutions.

Already at the stage of identifying the situation, it

is important to assess the awareness of the

educational institution employees of the issue of

children’s rights in general. Although, in accordance

with the requirements of the regulatory enactments,

every teacher and employee of an educational

institution acquires a certain amount of professional

development programme in the protection of

children’s rights, it is important to assess the situation

in reality, not relying solely on the fulfilment of

formal requirements.

As education practice of several countries shows,

successful implementation of legislative provisions

crucially depends on its inclusion in the regulatory

enactments of a particular level of education

(Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research,

2005, 2006; Compulsory School, 2018) that provides

an opportunity to express and adapt the legislative

provisions to the special characteristics of the specific

level of education, the age of children, as well as to

raise the issue in a certain target group of teachers.

3.1 Analysis of Frequency of Survey

Responses

The absolute (N) and relative frequency (%) of the

responses provided within the questionnaire were

analysed. It was identified, which responses show the

highest frequency indicators, and the high response

indicators were identified in the category

“Sometimes”.

A conditional limit of frequency of responses –

25%, was chosen for the frequency analysis, and the

results above 25% were considered high. The analysis

shows that more than 25% of the respondents rate all

the statements with the answer “Often”, while four

statements have a high number of answers “Almost

always”. The highest result in terms of frequency of

responses (50.4%) is for the statement “I encourage

children to express their opinions and accept different

opinions”, moreover, in the highest range – “Almost

always”. Also, summing up the answers in the ranges

“Often” and “Almost always”, the highest result

(88.4%) is observed regarding this same statement.

It can be concluded that participatory work forms

and methods dominate in teachers’ pedagogical work,

they are often used in the creation of educational

content and preschool group environment, as well as

in the daily communication of children and teachers.

A large group of the respondents, who have

provided a relatively neutral response “Sometimes”

to a question, can be considered as a potential group

to increase participation rates. A neutral, yet

affirmative response may indicate a sufficiently

positive attitude (i.e., activities of the said type exist

in the teacher’s work) and also some reasons, why

these activities do not occur more often (i.e., occur

only sometimes). The aim to obtain qualitative data

for further study of the causes was not set out in the

study, however, a high number of respondents in the

range “Sometimes” in one of the statements may be

the basis for identifying the direction of participation

management with a potentially high efficiency. The

frequency analysis showed that the frequency of the

response “Sometimes” exceeds 25% in five

statements, three of which meet the criterion of

“Children’s participation in the creation of learning

and play environment”, other two criteria have one

statement each. Thus, the frequency analysis shows

that the promotion of children’s participation in the

creation of the learning and play environment is the

direction of participation management with the

highest potential efficiency.

Grouping the responses based on the criteria (1)

Children’s participation in the creation of educational

content, (2) Children’s participation in the creation of

learning and play environment, (3) Communication

encouraging children’s participation, assessing the

distribution of responses, the response “Often”

dominates in each of the criteria.

3.2 Analysis of Statistical Indicators of

the Central Tendency

In the course of further study, the indicator of the

central tendency – the arithmetic mean – was studied.

The answers were coded: almost never – 1, rarely – 2,

sometimes – 3, often – 4, almost always – 5. As a

result, the central tendency indicators of the responses

provided in each question were obtained (Tab. 3),

which showed the highest frequency tendency in

three statements, each related to its own criterion.

Similar to the response frequency analysis, the

highest arithmetic mean (4.36) is in the statement “I

encourage children to express their opinions and

accept different opinions”. It is possible that the high

results are determined by the applicability of the

statement to all areas of preschool activities,

describing a very general communication principle.

Management of Children’s Participation in Preschool Education

367

Table 3: Statistical indicators of the central tendency of the

provided responses (arithmetic mean).

Statement

Indicator

the central

tren

 I take children's suggestions into

account when creating the

curriculum.

4.18

 I encourage children to express

their thoughts on what they are

learning an

listen to them.

3.78

 I encourage children to evaluate

what they and other children

have done.

3.60

 I invite children to express their

views on the environment and

listen to them.

3.24

 When creating an environment, I

take into account children's

suggestions, for example, about

decorating rooms, choosing toys

ames.

3.64

 I encourage children to make

suggestions on how to improve

the environment in the room.

4.32

 When planning the daily life, I

take children's suggestions into

account.

3.87

 I encourage children to discuss

the content of the planned

learnin

3.89

 I encourage children to express

their views and accept different

views.

4.36

3.3 Analysis of Variable Correlations

In the course of the study, a correlation study of three

variables (Pearson correlation coefficient) was

performed with each of the criteria. Selected variables

– teachers’ pedagogical work experience (length of

service), level of education and number of children in

the group. Although high statistical indicators were

predicted, weak statistically significant results were

obtained only in the correlation of teachers’

pedagogical work experience with two of the criteria,

i.e., “Children’s participation in the creation of

educational content” and “Communication

encouraging children’s participation” (Tab. 4).

It can be considered that the obtained results of the

analysis of variable correlations are not relevant in the

context of participation management, but require

further studying in order to draw general conclusions.

Table 4: Correlation of teachers’ pedagogical work

experience with children’s participation criteria.

Children's

participation

curriculum

development

Children's

participation

in creating a

learning and

play

environment

Communi-

cation that

ncourages

children's

participa-

tion

Teachers'

experience

pedagogical

work

r 190* .014 .264**

p .031 .878 .002

** Significant correlation (bilateral) at the significance

level p = 0.01

* Significant correlation (bilateral) at the significance level

p = 0.05

Summarizing the results of the empirical study, it can

be concluded that:

according to the self-assessment of preschool

teachers, children’s participation is characterized by high

implementation rates in the field of educational content,

environment and communication;

 the results obtained allow to identify the

promotion of children’s participation in the

creation of learning and play environment as a

direction of participation management with

potentially the highest efficiency, but the

reliability of the results is not high, considering

the result of low internal coherence of the scale of

the criterion “Children’s participation in creation

of learning and play environment” (ɑ = 0.543);

 the results obtained in the study are not sufficient

for conclusions on the correlation of the

implementation of children’s participation with

the number of children in the group, the teachers’

pedagogical work experience and the level of

education.

4 DISCUSSIONS

Comparing the studies on the opinions of preschool

teachers carried out in Greece, Slovenia, Finland,

Turkey and Latvia (Akyol & Erdem, 2021; Avgitidou

et al., 2006; Zorec, 2015; Kangas et al., 2016;

Turnšek, 2009; Turnšek & Pekkarinen, 2009), it is

possible to draw general conclusions, as each study

uses a different measurement instrument. However,

taken as a whole, a similar tendency is observed,

which confirms a positive attitude of teachers

regarding the awareness and implementation of

children’s participation, as the finding that decision-

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making has a positive effect on children’s social and

emotional development is dominant.

The authors of the article do not have information

on the research on children’s participation in the

context of preschool management, but some studies

(Akyol & Erdem, 2021) also confirm the need to

continue the research, engaging the administrations of

the institutions to develop mentoring programmes

that would support participation-related teachers’

practice in classroom. In surveys, the teachers assess

the need of the children’s participation mostly

positive, but in practice it is not always given the

attention it requires.

The interrelationship of children’s participation

with other important areas in preschool education

practice are identified in the theoretical findings as

interrelationships and adult roles (Bae, 2009). The

potential risks, when implementing children’s

participation in the preschool context are also

identified, mainly noting excessive attention on

formal expressions of democracy such as meetings,

voting (Bae, 2009), schoolification of preschool

education, approximation to methods of democracy

and organizational forms characteristic of school

(Clausen, 2015). It is stressed that the child in

preschool should experience “moments of

participation” rather than a constant involvement in

participatory activities (Bae, 2009).

In the context of the children’s participation, the

skill to separate the adult’s view, driven by the desire

to act in the best interests of the child, and the child’s

own views becomes relevant in the teacher’s work

(Sommer et al., 2013). Adults, considering

themselves to be more competent, often take on the

role of interpreting the children’s needs without

consulting the children themselves, and, guided by

positive intentions, are acting seemingly in the best

interests of the children. These views are deeply

rooted in normative pedagogy, and even in today’s

postmodern world, the attitude towards the child as a

subject of education and cooperation partner is not

exactly clear neither in scientific theoretical findings,

nor in educational practice. Therefore, there is a

serious risk that only seeming participation is

implemented in preschool education, namely,

“child’s participation on the conditions of the adults”

(Sandberg & Eriksson, 2010).

Considering the relevance of the studied issue in

preschool educational institutions in Latvia, in 2021,

the Ministry of Education and Science carried out

monitoring “Children’s Participation in Preschool

Education”, identifying the teachers’ self-assessment

of competences (Bērnu līdzdalība pirmsskolas

izglītībā, 2021). 2419 respondents participated in the

survey, representing 741 educational institutions or

82.89% of educational institutions that implement

preschool education programmes for 5-6 years old

children (in Latvia – a total of 894 educational

institutions). The author of the article, A. Ozola, also

participated in the development of the questionnaire,

supplementing the criteria with more detailed

indicators, which, to a certain extent, provide

instructions for teacher’s activities in communication

with children, in organization of the psychological

and physical environment. The results of the

monitoring show that children’s participation in

preschool education in Latvia is generally

implemented consistently. Greater attention must be

paid to addressing children’s suggestions and

complaints and empathy regarding the child’s views

expressed non-verbally, including in creative work.

In general, it must be acknowledged that the teacher

has the key role in the implementation of children’s

participation.

5 CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

Summarizing the findings obtained as a result of

scientific theoretical and empirical study on

children’s participation and its management in

preschool education, conclusions have been obtained

on what can serve as practical recommendations for

the implementation of children’s participation and its

management in preschool education.

 Children’s participation shall cover all the

activities and processes in daily life of a child in a

preschool educational institution, but the most

important tasks of children’s participation

management at the preschool level are to promote

children’s participation in creation of educational

content, in creation of learning and play

environment and to ensure communication

encouraging children’s participation in an

educational institution.

 Successful implementation of children’s

participation in preschool education is ensured by

the management, based on the rights of the

children:

- purposefully promoting awareness of

children’s participation in society among

children, teachers, parents, as well as all the

parties interested at the level of the state,

local governments and educational

institutions;

Management of Children’s Participation in Preschool Education

369

- raising the issue of children’s participation

in the state-level regulatory enactments in

the field of preschool education and in

strategic education policy documents, as

well as in internal regulatory enactments of

preschool education institutions;

- creating preconditions for children’s

participation in creation of educational

content, creation of preschool learning and

play environment;

- promoting an in-depth understanding of the

principles of participatory communication

between teachers and children by the

management team and teachers of the

educational institutions and the engagement

of children in the decision-making process.

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