Small Spaces for Meaningful Participation in Democratic Life? A Community's Perspectives on tehir particiaptioin in an Early Education and Care program

Because the majority of children in many countries are being raised in the dual contexts of home and early childhood settings, early childhood education and care programs are an important site of inquiry not only because of their implications for children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development, but also for their influence on early childhood educators, parents, and the community at large. At the same time that researchers and practitioners were increasingly recognizing the importance of community involvement in early childhood programs, reforms in governance worldwide were giving rise to discourse on small participatory spaces that theorists contend are crucial to the health of a democracy and core to the idea of civil society. This study helps close the gap in the scarcity of research knowledge and educational practice that considers the perspectives of teachers, parents, and other members of a marginalized community in a non-western setting of their participation in an early childhood program. In particular, it sought to understand better whether parental and community participation in an early childhood setting in a South African township has the potential for constructing and strengthening citizenship. This study found generally that participation in this pre-school offered opportunities for meaningful participation in civil society; some participants, however, expressed disappointment and frustration at continuing disparities and inequities.Ph