Child participation in early childhood institutions from the early childhood educators' perspective

Participacija djece već je dugo aktualna tema u stručnim i znanstvenim krugovima, međutim opsežnih istraživanja o njoj s fokusom na rani i predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje manjka. Svoje teorijsko uporište ovaj doktorski rad ima u suvremenim studijama djetinjstva i suvremenim viđenjima njegovih temeljnih pojmova koji ga obilježuju – djetinjstvo i dijete. U ovome se radu promišlja terminologija, definicije odabranih pojmova, različita teorijska polazišta, različiti metodologijski pristupi, različiti modeli participacije djece, a potom se predstavlja i provedeno istraživanje o participaciji djece. U radu se u pojedinim poglavljima bavi i pojmovima agentnosti, institucijama općenito iz različitih perspektiva, institucijama ranog i predškolskog odgoja i obrazovanja uz pojam kvalitete ranog i predškolskog odgoja i obrazovanja, kao i institucionalizacijom. Bavi se i suvremenim fenomenima u odnosu na dječji život – sve većom insularizacijom i kontrolom. U istraživanju se pošlo od razmatranja perspektive odgojiteljica djece rane i predškolske dobi o participaciji djece u vrtićima te se željelo ispitati stavove odgojiteljica o participaciji djece i njihova viđenja vlastite prakse u odnosu na participaciju djece u vrtićima. Korišten je kvantitativni i u manjoj mjeri kvalitativni pristup istraživanju te je nakon prilagodbe upitnika i stvaranja jedinstvenog instrumenta kao postupak korišteno anketiranje. Rezultati upućuju na to da odgojiteljice djece rane i predškolske dobi participaciju djece smatraju važnom, kao i da smatraju da u vlastitoj praksi pokušavaju omogućavati djeci prilike za participaciju, uz svjesnost o preprekama na koje na tome putu mogu nailaziti, odgojiteljice, djeca kao i odgojiteljice i djeca zajedno u institucionalnom kontekstu u kojemu se nalaze. Odgojiteljice djece rane i predškolske dobi koje su sudjelovale u ovome istraživanju imaju pozitivne stavove o participaciji djece te, kada je riječ o njihovoj vlastitoj praksi, smatraju da djeca mogu participirati u planiranju i realizaciji aktivnosti u vrtiću, posebice kada je riječ o igri, odabiru svojeg socijalnog okruženja i aktivnostima, a manje u kreiranju okruženja, posebice na razini cijeloga vrtića. Odgojiteljice smatraju da djeca manje participiraju u evaluaciji, a općenito vlastitu ulogu u odnosu na podržavanje participacije djece vide kao pasivniju, iako podržavanje participacije djece smatraju vlastitom profesionalnom odgovornošću. Dobiveni rezultati daju uvid u potencijalna područja u sklopu kojih je nužan razvoj programa profesionalnog razvoja odgojiteljica djece rane i predškolske dobi kao i uvid u sadržaje i pristupe u sklopu inicijalnog obrazovanja odgojiteljica koji su važni u odnosu na područje participacije djece. Rezultati su također važni i u promišljanju o daljnjim istraživanjima ove kompleksne teme, poput istraživanja o kvalitativnim obilježjima participacije djece iz perspektiva svih uključenih sudionika te relacije (iskazivanja) inicijativnosti djece i obilježja posredne uključenosti odgojiteljica djece rane i predškolske dobi u dječjim vrtićima.Child participation has been a prominent topic in professional and scientific circles for a significant amount of time, but there is a lack of extensive research on it with a specific focus on early childhood education and care from different perspectives. This dissertation has its theoretical foundation in social studies of childhood and its contemporary views of the fundamental concepts that characterise it – childhood and the child/children. In its theoretical part, this dissertation discusses the terminology, definitions of selected terms, different theoretical starting points, different methodological approaches and different models of child participation. In its empirical part, the dissertation presents and elaborates on the conducted research on child participation. The thesis also elaborates on the concepts of agency, the notion of institutions from various perspectives, institutions of early childhood education and care along with the notion of quality early childhood education and care and institutionalization. It also discusses contemporary phenomena in relation to contemporary children's lives – increasing insularization and control. The research focuses on the perspectives of early childhood educators or early childhood teachers about child participation in early childhood settings. It examines their attitudes about child participation and their views of their own practices in relation to child participation in early childhood settings. A quantitative and, to a lesser extent, qualitative research approach was used. After adapting other questionnaires used in different sociocultural contexts, a questionnaire was created for researching early childhood educators’ perspectives of child participation in Croatia. The results indicate that early childhood educators find child participation is important, that they see themselves as trying to provide opportunities for children to participate and that they are aware of possible obstacles in regards to child participation, be it obstacles in relation to themselves, children or themselves together with children within the institutional context of early childhood education and care. Early childhood educators who participated in this research have positive attitudes towards child participation and see supporting child participation as part of their professional responsibility. When it comes to their own practice, they think children can participate in the planning and realisation of activities in early childhood settings, especially when it comes to play, choosing their immediate social environment and activities, and less in the creation of their own material environment, especially the environment of the entire early childhood setting. The early childhood educators think children participate less in the evaluation part of the early childhood education and care process, and they mostly see their part in supporting children’s participation as more on the passive side of the active-passive involvement continuum. The results of this research provide insight into potential areas within which there is great need for the development of programmes for professional development of early childhood educators as well as insight into the contents and approaches within early childhood educators’ initial education that are important in relation to the field of child participation. The results are also relevant in planning for further research on this complex topic, such as research on the qualitative characteristics of child participation from the perspectives of other stakeholders and the relation of the (expressions) of children’s initiatives and characteristics of indirect involvement of early childhood educators in supporting child participation within early childhood settings