Hallmarks of participation – children’s conceptions of how to get access to communities in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study focuses on children’s participation in community and the research question is as follows: What do children describe as hallmarks influencing their ability to participate in the ECEC community? The study is based on a qualitative hermeneutic analysis of semi-structured group interviews with 12 five-year-old children from three different Norwegian ECEC institutions. How children express that they are included, mutually accepted and engaged with others are interpreted as hallmarks for participation. The main theoretical basis is Biesta’s view of democracy as both action and a mode of togetherness, and also his understanding of education as socialisation, qualification and subjectification. The analysis of the group interviews resulted in five broad categories of the children’s descriptions of their prerequisites for participation: trust, responsibility for others, adapting to the institutional rules, freedom to choose and refuse community, and common ground. At the end the findings are discussed and seen in relation to some implications for theory and practice.