Suchergebnisse

Children's right to participate is considered pivotal for establishing a culture of democracy and citizenship. Although this is not a new concept, its application remains a challenge. This review aims to map peer-reviewed empirical research conducted on children's right to participate, in center-based early childhood education settings, from 1980 on. A systematic literature search was performed and 36 studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings suggest a limited number of publications, conducted mostly in northern Europe countries, in the education field. Regarding definitions and theoretical backgrounds, sociological, legal, democratic, and educational discourses converge. There is a prominence of qualitative studies, a greater focus of research on ideas about participation, and, to a lesser extent, a focus on practices to promote participation. There is more emphasis on teacher's perspectives and practices, with few studies relying on children as informants, and limited sound measures to assess children's participation. Future research should rely on multiple informants, and investigate associations between this right and children's individual outcomes. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

Young children's participation is key to developing a culture of human rights, democracy, and rule of law and according to Council of Europe (2017) and United Nations (2005). In these terms, children's right to participate is described as a key aspect in the framework of educational quality, and the positive relationship between children's right to participate and early childhood care and education (ECCE) quality is already documented. Although this concept is not new to ECCE professionals, its application seems to remain a challenge within everyday activities. It is thus important for ECCE professionals to reflect on this right and on the practices towards its promotion, in order to be able to supply high quality education. The paper presents the innovatory attempts regarding the digital tools developed within the PARTICIPA Erasmus+ project (Professional development tools supporting participation rights in early childhood education) aiming to involve three target group -directors, teachers and teachers' assistants- working in all types of early childhood care and education settings, so that have a digital space to reflect about children's right to participate and its implementation. More specifically, the paper presents (a) a training program targeting the ECCE settings' professionals provided through a massive open online course (MOOC) in 5 languages and disseminated in an online learning platform, focusing on the theoretical and practical aspects of children's right to participate (i.e., state of the art, relevant pedagogical practices), (b) toolkits (i.e., validated self-assessment questionnaires) for ECCE directors and teachers and teacher assistants supported by discrete qualitative studies. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

WOS:000308564500005 ; Research studies on early childhood intervention (ECI) in Portugal are diffuse regarding both program components and the geographical area under scrutiny. Since the 1990s, a growing body of knowledge and evidence in ECI is being gathered, based on postgraduate teaching, in-service training, and research. This article draws on the systems theory perspective outlined in the Developmental Systems Approach to Early Intervention (M. J. Guralnick, 2001, 2005a, 2011) to (a) depict paradigmatic shifts and scientific evidence, as well as social and political factors, setting the framework for the development of ECI policies and services in Portugal; (b) describe recent Portuguese legislation that established a national ECI system, and deductively analyze its content regarding the structural components of Guralnick's Model; (c) examine the current status of ECI services according to the core principles and components of the Developmental Systems Model. Inspired by M. J. Guralnick's suggestion (2000), the discussion addresses problems at different levels of the system, proposing an agenda for change in ECI in Portugal, underlining the need for the co-construction of a new culture, based on scientific evidence and on in-depth dialogues between researchers, practitioners, and communities. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion