A Cross-Cultural Study on Factors Affecting Children’s Agentic Action in Their Play

The study explores the extent to which kindergartens in seven different countries provide children with opportunities to exercise their agency during play. The study investigates the children’s freedom to choose how, where and with whom they want to play, what type of resources they can use, how much time they can spend playing, and the extent to which adult rules limit their opportunities to exercise agency and control. In addition, the study investigates whether and how the characteristics of both teachers and children affect these opportunities.

The results show that children’s agency during play varied considerably between the seven countries. Although children’s autonomy and the right to shape their own experiences were valued and recognised in all the countries, the support for children’s agency was not equally strong everywhere. In some countries, children’s agency was supported by a culture that promoted independence, while in other countries, children’s opportunities to be active participants in their own play were limited by adult rules and structures. Overall, there was a lack of a holistic approach that combines legal and pedagogical perspectives, which in most countries results in children not being genuine co-creators in their own play.

The study used a mixed-methods, comparative approach to investigate how kindergartens in Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Turkey and the United States support children’s agency during play. The researchers collected data through surveys that were distributed to 187 kindergarten employees in the seven countries. The data were analysed to identify variations in support for children’s agency across the different countries and to understand how different factors contribute to these differences.

Rentzou, K., Slutsky, R., Gol–Guven, M., Kragh-Müller, G., Tuul, M., & Paz-Albo, J. (2023). A Cross-Cultural Study on Factors Affecting Children’s Agentic Action in Their Play. International Journal of Early Childhood, 55(1), 89–112.

Online year: 2022

Issue year: 2023

Review year: 2022