child\u27s participation in perschool life: how would we spend december holidays in the kindergarten

Participacija je osnovna državljanska pravica in je definirana kot udeležba in sodelovanje pri soodločanju. S Konvencijo o otrokovih pravicah (1989), se je spremenil pogled na otroka in otroštvo. Le-ta poudarja pravice otrok in jim dodeljuje možnosti sodelovanja. Participacija kot izhodišče pedagoškega dela je vsebovana v različnih pedagoških pristopih in kurikulih, najbolj dosledno pa so načela participacije zastopana in udejanjena v pedagoškem konceptu Reggio Emilia. V slovenskih vrtcih vzgojitelji participacijo v vrtcu udejanjajo na različne načine – v vsakodnevnih praksah/rutinah, v dejavnih oblikah učenja in projektih demokratičnega (aktivnega) državljanstva. Uspešno pa participacijo lahko uveljavljamo tudi z metodičnim pristopom reševanja problemov odprtega tipa (open-ended problem solving, Maxim, 1989), ki predvideva, da do rešitev problemov, ki zadevajo vsakodnevno življenje v vrtcu, pridemo s pomočjo otrok oz. njihovih idej, predlogov, pri čemer uporabimo njihove kreativne potenciale. V teoretičnem delu diplomske naloge so predstavljena izhodišča participacije kot je opredeljena v Konvenciji o otrokovih pravicah. V nadaljevanju je predstavljen pedagoški koncept Reggio Emilia, ter rezultati raziskav, ki prikazujejo stališča slovenskih vzgojiteljev do participacije. V empiričnem delu je opisana izvedba projekta participacije otrok – Kako bi v vrtcu preživeli decembrske praznične dni, v okviru katerega so imeli otroci možnost soustvariti dogajanja oz. življenja v vrtcu v skladu s svojimi zamislimi. Vsi predlogi otrok so bili izvirni in posledično otrokom zanimivi, saj so pri dejavnostih z veliko vnemo sodelovali vsi otroci. Njihove ideje so bile inovativne in zanimive. Evalvacija je pokazala, da je bila v projektu dosežena visoka stopnja soodločanja otrok.Participation is a basic civil right and is defined as participation and collaboration in co-decision-making. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) has changed the viewpoint on children and childhood. It emphasises the rights of children and grants them the possibility of cooperation. Participation as a starting point of teaching is contained in different pedagogical approaches and curricula, and most consistently are the principles of participation represented and materialized in the pedagogical concept of Reggio Emilia. The Slovenian kindergarten educators actualise the participation in kindergarten in different ways – in everyday practices / routines, in active forms of learning and projects of democratic (active) citizenship. However, participation can be successfully pursued also with a methodical approach of open-ended problem solving (Maxim, 1989), which predicts that we can find solutions to the problems affecting the daily life in kindergarten with the help of children or their ideas, suggestions, while using their creative potential. In the theoretical part of the thesis are presented the starting points of participation as defined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Following is a presentation of the pedagogical concept of Reggio Emilia, and the results of research showing the position of the Slovenian educators towards participation. The empirical part describes the implementation of the project of children\u27s participation – How to spend time in the kindergarten in December holidays, in which the children had the opportunity to help create the events or life in the kindergarten in accordance with their ideas. All suggestions of children were original and subsequently interesting to children, since all children participated in the activities with great enthusiasm. Their ideas were innovative and interesting. The evaluation showed that the project has achieved a high degree of children\u27s participation