Peer-reviewed article
Exploring 5 Years of Research on the Conceptualization of Child Participation from the Perspective of ECE Philosophy: A Systematic Literature Review
Azam Ghazali, Zakiah Mohamad Ashari, Amelia Binti Alias, Joanne Hardmen ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic literature review examines how early childhood education philosophy supports children's participation and holistic development. The researchers analyzed 32 peer-reviewed articles published between 2019 and 2024 from major databases. They found that most studies use perennialism—an educational philosophy emphasizing knowledge and cognitive abilities—to guide children's participation in learning. A key challenge identified is that teachers struggle to support individual child development while managing group preschool activities.
Key points
- 119 articles were screened, with 32 selected for final analysis covering the period mid-2019 to early 2024
- 18 out of 32 articles (56%) were grounded in perennialism, where teachers value knowledge and cognitive abilities
- Several articles examined child participation using different instruments and observation methods
- Primary implementation challenge: teachers find it difficult to enhance individual development while running preschool activities
- Results suggest need for developing suitable strategies to empower children through participation using appropriate educational philosophy
Limitations
This is a literature review about research on participation, not an evaluation of an intervention itself, so it cannot tell us what directly works to improve child participation outcomes. The document does not provide details on which specific strategies or philosophies were most effective, nor does it compare outcomes across different approaches.
Abstract
This systematic literature review aims to highlight the importance of early childhood education philosophy in boosting the holistic development in children through their participation in learning and facilitation process.Th method of this review begins with the evaluation processes involved doing a systematic search, followed by ethically assessing and determining the suitability of articles on child participation in preschool or kindergarten.This review was also done by reviewing and combining information from 119 articles that were analyzed from several electronic databases such as Scopus, ScienceDirect, and ERIC.In the final process, there were 32 papers successfully selected and recorded in a 5-year period, from mid-2019 until early 2024 in order to answer the research questions.The analysis findings indicate that several articles examining the participation of children through different instruments and observations.18 out of 32 articles adhere to an educational philosophy grounded in branch perennialism, where teachers believed the significance of knowledge and cognitive abilities for children during their learning.Furthermore, there are several challenges in implementing educational philosophy in early childhood education, with the primary challenge being that teachers find it challenging to enhance individual development while engaging in preschool activities.This study's results will offer opportunities for future studies to expand suitable strategies in empowering children through their participation in preschool by applying the appropriate philosophy.