Peer-reviewed article
Constructing child participation in early years classrooms: An exploration from Wales
Jane Waters, Alison Murphy, Sarah Chicken, Jacky Tyrie, Jennifer Ann Clement ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This research explores how teachers in Welsh early years classrooms understand and put into practice children's participation rights. The study surveyed teachers of 3-7 year olds to understand their views on child participation and how these views shape the opportunities they provide. The findings highlight that despite supportive policies in Wales, how children's participation is actually enacted in classrooms varies widely. The research suggests that teachers' beliefs about what young children are capable of may be a key factor in determining whether children's participation rights are realised.
Key points
- Teachers' constructions of young children and their capabilities directly relate to the participation opportunities they provide
- Despite supportive policy contexts for children's rights in Wales, implementation of participatory pedagogies is highly variable
- The study focused on children aged 3-7 years across Welsh early education settings
- Research employed qualitative online bilingual survey methodology with teachers
- The concept of the 'capable child' may function as a threshold concept in shaping realisation of participation rights in education
Limitations
This is a qualitative study based on teachers' self-reported understanding and practice rather than direct observation of actual classroom participation. The findings reflect constructions and reported opportunities rather than measured outcomes of children's participation.
Abstract
Abstract This paper addresses the research problem that arises from evidence that, despite supportive policy contexts, enactment of pedagogies that attend to young children's participation rights in classroom settings is highly variable. We report our exploration of the ways in which the child, and child participation are constructed in early education settings in Wales, where legislation and policy around children's rights has been a key feature of the Welsh Government agenda post‐devolution. Data were gathered via a qualitative online bilingual (English and Welsh) survey offered via email to teachers of children aged 3–7 in Wales. The overarching research question of the project was: How do teachers of children 3–7 years understand and enact the notion of participation as it relates to the children they teach? Data analysis focused on research participants' apparent constructions of the children they teach and their capabilities, and unpacked the ways in which these constructions relate to the reported opportunities for participation. The discussion is informed by the notion of the threshold concept, described by Meyer & Land as akin to a portal that opens new and previously inaccessible ways of thinking. We consider the extent to which the conceptual construction of the capable child maybe a threshold concept in shaping the realisation of children's participation rights in educative contexts.