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Children's participation in a preparatory classroom

Maryanne Theobald   

The children's rights movement and the theoretical perspective of the sociology of childhood are two driving forces leading to an international agenda of children's participation. This study draws on an ethnomethodological approach that uses conversation analysis and membership categorisation analysis, and the sociology of childhood perspective, to examine understandings about children's participation. A framework of children's participation is proposed which includes children's agency, children's peer cultures, children's standpoint, and teacher-child relations that support participation.

Transcript

Interviewer: I’d like to welcome Maryanne Theobald, welcome Maryanne

Maryanne Theobald: Thanks Nicollette

Interviewer: Maryanne can you share with us what your Research Title is and provide us just with a brief explanation of the project?

Maryanne Theobald: My title is Children’s Participation in a Preparatory Classroom and I’m looking at how children involved in experiencing just participation and decision making within a Prep year classroom.  Part of the major reform of Early Childhood Education taking place in Queensland at the moment is with the Prep year and the guiding document for that situates children’s participation as opinions of children as competent agents, in this, guidelines is very significant.

Interviewer: How did you identify the gap in the research and what directed your project?

Maryanne Theobald: I always have had an interest in children as participants or being involved within decision making in the classroom being a practicing teacher just last year finishing that and from reading the document of the Prep year that initially started me thinking about children’s participation. Reading further in the literature, I’ve noticed that there is much literature on children’s participation in medical issues, in research issues, in being involved in conferences and even policy making and decision making with Government parties.  But there is a significant gap in what is known about children’s participation within a learning context of early childhood education.  So for instance, just this year, there was an International Conference on children’s participation and from 117 submissions only 3 related to play learning in early childhood and not one showed evidence of processes of children’s participation and their application within the early childhood field.

Interviewer: Can you just briefly outline your project and the major findings that you have found so far?

Maryanne Theobald: My project is examining one Prep year classroom and I will be doing my data collection in two phases next year.  I will be video recording and editing these segments of these video recordings and holding research conversations with children after showing them the video recordings and also the classroom teacher.  This will be using an ethno methodological approach which involves talk and interaction as the basis for the analysis, it will also involve conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis in the data collection.

Interviewer: What do you think from your findings the implication might be for education?

Maryanne Theobald: By finding the children’s accounts of their participation within an early childhood learning context, I’m wanting to inform teachers and policy makers of how children’s participation would be made a success in the future.

Interviewer: Thank you very much for sharing that with us.