Children's creative participation as a precursor of 21st century skills in Finnish early childhood education and care context

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study how children's creative participation as a precursor of 21st century skills is related to their skills and competencies, involvement, and class activities in the Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) context. The study is part of the Finnish ECEC Progressive Feedback research and development project, which was conducted in 21 Finnish cities and companies providing ECEC services between 2017 and 2022. In this study, 5047 children aged between 1 and 7 years participated, using data which included both observation and child evaluations. Children's creative participation was examined using the social orientation theory together with the LI-SYC to focus on their involvement in class activities. The results showed that children's creative participation was related to their skills and competencies, involvement, and play as a class activity. The results emphasize the significance of creative participation as an indicator of quality and learning in ECEC. Educational relevance and implications statementThe results of this study show that creative participation as a precursor of 21st century skills (especially creativity and collaboration) is also an indicator of quality and learning today. Creative participation occurred in play as a class activity, and it was also connected with children evaluated individual skills and skills and competencies, especially creativity in pretend play and less support needs in language development. This is significant because with scaffolding and being conscious of the opportunities for creative participation in the pedagogy of early childhood education and care, it is possible to scaffold children's learning and well-being today and the skills and competencies they will need in the future.