Participation in communities in ECEC expressed in child–educator interactions

The study investigates what type of opportunities children have to actively participate in kindergartens. In this study, the concept of participation refers to how children are included, accepted, engaged and participate in the communities. The researchers focus on how communication between kindergarten staff and children shapes children’s opportunities to participate. The two research questions are: 1) What types of communication patterns occur in interactions between adults and children, and how do these affect children’s opportunity to participate in the kindergarten community? 2) How can communication patterns and opportunities for participation in a community be understood from a lifeworld and system perspective?

The analysis generates three different communication patterns that affect children’s opportunity to participate in the kindergarten community: 1) Controlling communication – limited participation, 2) supportive communication – passive participation and 3) interacting communication – joint participation. The researchers believe that the findings show a tendency in kindergartens to prioritise individual children and a goal-oriented practice, where the adult controls communication and therefore also the children’s lifeworlds. The researchers believe that the third communication pattern, interacting communication, contributes to participation through joint attention and involvement in a joint project between adults and children. This pattern of interaction makes the children feel accepted and included as participating individuals in the community.

The data material consists of video observations of everyday activities in three Norwegian kindergartens, with focus placed on interactions between children and kindergarten staff. The kindergartens were strategically selected based on the data material in the BePro project to ensure the greatest possible breadth in the sample. Most of the children were five years old at the time of observation and were observed together with the kindergarten staff in various activities, both indoors and outdoors. In order to include all communication details, such as emotional expressions, glances, movements, attitudes and the communication context, the researchers watched the videos several times before the observations were transcribed.

Ree, M. & Emilson, A. (2019). “Participation in communities in ECEC expressed in child–educator interactions”. Early Child Development and Care, 190(14):2229-2240.