Children's participation and teacher control

Abstract

In this study we have tried to come close to, and at the same time problematize, what participation in educational practice might be. The overall aim is to study how a toddler's participation can be understood in two kinds of educational activities, where the degree of teacher control differs. The data in this study are video observations of interactions between preschool teachers and toddlers. Two situations are analyzed. One refers to a situation characterized by strong classification and framing, while the other refers to a situation with weak classification and framing. The result shows that strong classification and framing risks restricting children's participation, and that a weak classification and framing can promote children's possibility to participate on their own terms. An important issue for children's participation is a participant teacher who is creating meaningful contexts, where teacher control is about being emotionally present, supportive and responsive.