Peer-reviewed article
Child participation in early childhood education in Spain: When having rights does not mean being able to exercise them
Ana Castro Zubizarreta, Adelina Calvo Salvador ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review examines child participation in early childhood education in Spain from 2010 to 2022. Although Spanish schools increasingly recognize the importance of listening to children, the review finds that school culture remains predominantly adult-centred. While children have the formal right to participate, they often lack meaningful opportunities to exercise that right or see their voices influence decisions that affect them. The research identifies gaps in how schools implement child participation, particularly in creating structures where children can genuinely influence outcomes.
Key points
- School culture in Spain remains very adult-centric despite growing interest in child participation
- Dimensions of voice, audience and influence in child participation need improvement
- There is a need for broader techniques and instruments to make child participation effective
- Current participation often remains consultative rather than transformative
- Having formal participation rights does not guarantee children can exercise them meaningfully
Limitations
This is a systematic review of Spanish scientific literature and may not reflect actual implementation in schools or children's lived experiences. The review cannot explain why schools remain adult-centric or provide evidence on which specific interventions effectively shift school culture towards genuine child participation.
Abstract
This article carries out a systematic review of the scientific literature on child participation in the formal education system in Spain between 2010 and 2022. Recognising the importance of child participation in the context of the European Union, the theoretical principles of this study are in line with the perspective that child participation involves recognising the fundamental right of children to be heard and taken into consideration from an early age and providing them with the opportunity to convert that listening into positive changes to aspects that affect their lives. Child participation has significant benefits, both from an individual point of view (the child’s own development and the recognition that all rights are for all children), and a social and collective point of view (the strengthening of democracy itself making the school a school for participation). The systematic review of the scientific literature was conducted according to the PRISMA statement 2020. The analysis of the selected articles was based on the Lundy model of child participation (2007) which considers four dimensions: space, voice, audience and influence. The results show that despite the Spanish scientific community’s growing interest in child participation in the field of early childhood education, school culture is still very adult-centric. Aspects related to the dimensions of voice, audience and influence could be improved for which more research is required. There is a clear need to broaden the techniques and instruments required for making child participation effective, and experiences that go beyond consultative participation should be developed. This would enable forms of child participation focused on improving their lives based on their own needs being heard and taken into consideration.