The Provision, Protection and Participation of Children’s Rights in Professional Practice

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has raised the profile of children’s rights internationally but does so in relation to different concepts of childhood that have a bearing on the role of the adults who work with children. In this chapter, I seek to explore the different concepts of children’s rights and consider the potential tensions and contradictions for professional practice in early childhood education and care services. In particular, I draw on what is often referred to as the three Ps; provision, protection and participation that illustrate three broad constructions of children’s rights; non-discrimination, the interest of the child and respect for the views of the child. Within the context of early childhood education and care, the provision-ist perspective can be seen to equate to equality of access to quality services. The protection-ist stance relates to the responsibility that professionals have to protect the children in their care, often associated with working in the best interests of the child. The participation-ist stance identifies with a child’s active agency and their participation within the early childhood education and care environment. In this chapter, I explore the contradictions and tensions between the different perspectives, such as how all children’s rights can be upheld when working with groups of children; and whether a participationist view, where the child has agency, can be upheld alongside a protection-ist view that potentially positions the child as dependent and vulnerable. The chapter will support readers in con-sidering their own concepts of children’s rights and what these may look like in professional practice.