This thesis takes as one point of departure the concept of the expanded curriculum where curricula encompass both the formal steering documents, as well as that which goes on within the framework of preschool education and through the actors in preschools. The overarching purpose is therefore to generate knowledge about what conditions for learning the work of teachers make possible when curricula are created in preschool settings for children aged between 1 and 3. The purpose is also to contribute with knowledge about what these created curricula would mean for children’s agency, and the importance they can have for children’s opportunities for learning and development. The three empirical studies consist of digitally recorded interviews with teachers and video observations with a focus on teachers’ communication with children in preschool. The discussion in the overarching text is constructed around three aspects that emerge in the overall results of the studies. First, the studies reveal how teachers’ work can be likened to a limiting curriculum which, on the one hand, is entirely child-centered, with the children as seen actors, but, on the other, can be interpreted as entirely teacher-centered. Secondly, there is the discussion about the affirmative curriculum, where children are presented as affirmed actors. In other words, content becomes those things that children are interested in, and their modes of expression are seen, affirmed and often repeated. Finally there is the discussion about the possibilities and dilemmas related to an expanding curriculum where children are regarded and treated as real actors in the sense that their intentions and expressions are taken seriously as relevant challenges. The current curriculum text for Swedish preschool can, in this sense, be seen as an obstacle in that its formulations are extremely broad-based, as discussed related to the results of this thesis.

Despite the increasing policy and academic attention given to child poverty in recent years, little is known about children’s perspectives and their experiences of risk, coping and resilience in the context of poverty. The existing child poverty literature is dominated by studies from economics and developmental psychology, which for the most part overlook not only the perspectives of children in poverty but also their use of coping strategies and experiences of resilience. Much can be inferred, however, from studies of the lives of children in developing countries in terms of the active role poor children play in their lives and their families’ lives. Additionally, a small but growing number of qualitative child poverty studies in Europe and North America (e.g. Ridge, 2002) have highlighted the resourcefulness and optimism of many children living in poverty. They have shown the merit of prioritizing children’s perspectives and experiences or minimally setting them alongside the perspectives of adults in order to understand their lives and concerns fully. This thesis builds on these studies by exploring the lives of children living in poverty that go beyond their material disadvantage or survival. It highlights the priorities, concerns and responses of children living in a context different from the one covered by most of these studies. It also explores the theoretical concepts of coping and resilience to establish whether these constructs can be reliably applied in a society that is very different from the one in which they were developed. The study focuses on Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world. It addresses the perspectives and experiences of twenty-six children (11 girls and 15 boys) between the ages of 11 and 14 in Kolfe area, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Addis Ababa. It employs qualitative research methods such as semi-structured individual interviews, daily diaries, drawings and timelines with the children. The key finding of the study is that the majority of these children perceive that relationships that are characterized by conflict are more damaging than material poverty. This suggests that research and interventions focusing on poverty not only undermine children’s positive experiences and agency but also obscure their real priorities and concerns. The children’s accounts further suggest that the theoretical concepts of “coping” and “resilience” are applicable to Ethiopian children, although as in other contexts how the children understand and experience them is influenced by the culture and environment in which they live.

This thesis is about the every day life of children who suffer from economic hardship. The aim is, from the children's point of view, to create an understanding of the consequences that economic hardship has on their relationships with their parents and other children. A further aim is to gain an understanding of how children act in relation to the families' economic situation and how they experience their every day life and general living conditions. Parents have also been interviewed about the families' general living conditions and the interaction between children and parents in relation to the economic situation. The empirical data has been collected over a period of fourteen months. Fourteen children aged 7-19 years and eight parents in seven families have been interviewed on five occasions. A total of 44 interviews have been conducted. The theoretical foundation of the thesis is childhood sociology, symbolic interactionism and social identity. The conclusions of this thesis can be summarized in two major results. The first is that economic hardship is of importance in the relationship with other children and in the interaction between children and their parents. The children's possibilities of participating together with peers through possessions and activities are affected to a varying extent depending on the circumstances. The relationship with their parents is also affected by children having to take economic responsibility and by children cooperating with them. Economic hardship also causes a strain on the relationship. The second major result is that children are active in forming theirs and their families' every day life in relation to the economic limits. On the basis of their understanding and their definition of the situation they choose different strategies, the aims of which are either to live within the limitations of the situation, so-called reactive strategies, or to change their own situation and sometimes also the situation of their household. These are defined as proactive strategies in the thesis.

abstract: The transition to kindergarten is a significant milestone for children and families in the United States. Education reform movements and early childhood policy initiatives have had significant impact on the transition process in recent years, and as a result, there is greater emphasis on promoting "ready children" for school. Previous research on the transition to kindergarten in the U.S. consists primarily of adult perspectives, examining parents and teachers' expectations for kindergarten and explicating their concerns about the transition. While adults impart important considerations about the transition to kindergarten, members of the early childhood community should also pay attention to children's perspectives as they too offer critical insight on getting ready for school. This dissertation foregrounds children's and experiences getting ready for and being in kindergarten, bringing attention their participation in transition activities and school routines. In addition, this study examines ways parents structure children's participation in transition activities and school routines to provide background information on children's experiences preparing for school. This study used data from a large-scale qualitative research project conducted in Arizona to understand children's experiences transitioning to kindergarten. Specifically, interviews with preschool-aged children, kindergarten-aged children, and mothers were analyzed to impart a deeper understanding of children's viewpoints becoming and being kindergarteners. Findings illustrate how mothers' understandings of kindergarten, and constructions of readiness have influence over the transition process. Moreover, findings offer thick descriptions of how children learn about kindergarten, make meaning of school rules and routines, and form membership within classroom communities of practice. Moreover, interpretations of children's viewpoints contribute nuanced understandings of situations that promote or hinder children's participation in transition activities, and subsequent engagement in kindergarten classrooms. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on kindergarten readiness. The viewpoints of children and parents on getting ready for and being in kindergarten provide alternative perspectives, contributing to a more holistic understanding of the transition experience. Further, a key implication of this study is that children's perspectives be given due weight in practical, programmatic, and policy initiatives aimed at promoting positive and successful transitions to kindergarten. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2012

Background: There is a considerable body of research linking child well-being with future outcomes for children. In recent years monitoring and promoting child well-being has been high on the UK government agenda and has attracted a great deal of theoretical interest. Despite existing research and given the importance of a precise definition, there remains a lack of knowledge about what well-being actually means to children. An independent literature search highlighted that while researchers have made some effort to understand what well-being means to children there are still significant gaps in the literature, including an understanding of how children’s views of well-being vary across different age groups. Participants: Nine participants were selected from three different age groups (four, seven and eleven year olds). The sample included a mix of males and females and all participants were reported to have adequate language skills and none were identified as having special educational needs. Method: This is a purely qualitative study utilising an in depth survey research design. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with each child and each participant was asked to take photographs of and describe artifacts which they considered to be important to their well-being. Analysis/Findings: Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Data analysis was conducted in discrete data sets defined by age group. Then compared across age groups to gain understanding of how children’s views of well-being develop with age. Well-being appeared to be conceptualised as an evaluative judgement which was influenced by well-being domains/factors and emotional experience. The complexity of the children’s evaluative judgements appeared to become increasingly sophisticated with age. The four year olds were found to understand well-being in egocentric terms whereas the seven and eleven year olds seemed to understand well-being in terms of both their own experiences and the experiences of the perceived other. Two specific developmental considerations were identified which influenced the children’s evaluative judgements including individual difference and children’s views regarding their ideal life. In addition to this, the component ‘self-view’ was identified for the eleven year olds. Three domains of well-being were identified which included: ‘my relationships’, ‘my lifestyle and ‘myself’ and the individual factors relating to these domains appeared to vary and increase in complexity with age. The generalisability of these finding is critically considered within the limitations of the research design. Conclusion/Implications: The findings led to the development of an exploratory developmental model of child well-being. Suggestions are made for future research and potential implications for practice are considered.

Pedagoger i förskolan har ett viktigt uppdrag i att främja barns hälsa och välbefinnande samtett ansvar att ge varje barn förutsättningar att utvecklas och lära sig. Ett sätt att möjliggöradetta är genom inflytande och delaktighet, som ses som en av flera hälsofrämjande faktorer.Det är en grundläggande rättighet att få uppleva delaktighet, uttrycka sina åsikter och blilyssnad till. På vilket sätt barn får förutsättningar till detta i förskolan är något som undersöksi denna studie. Alla barn, oavsett ålder, funktionsvariation och erfarenhet, har rätt att förafram sina åsikter. Därför behöver det finnas metoder som möjliggör att alla barn, även de medbegränsad kommunikationsförmåga, ges förutsättningar till att uttrycka sig. Det kan innebäraatt pedagogerna behöver vara extra lyhörda för barns uttryck, samt erbjuda olika former avkommunikationssätt och uttrycksmedel. Genom intervjuer med sju pedagoger och tolv barnsynliggör vi deras olika perspektiv på inflytande och delaktighet i förskolan. Resultatet visaratt pedagoger har vissa svårigheter att särskilja begreppen, och även om de inte är synonymerså hänger de nära samman. Pedagogerna menar att barnen får vara med och påverka sinvardag och att de är lyhörda för deras önskemål. De beskriver olika metoder och arbetssättsom de använder för att ta tillvara barns åsikter. Barns delaktighet beskrivs som något merkonkret, att få vara med och bli delaktig i det som görs i vardagen på förskolan. Ett viktigtresultat i denna studie är att pedagoger anser att det finns vissa barn som har mer inflytandeoch delaktighet än andra i förskolan. Det beskrivs vara barn som är mer högljudda ochduktiga på att uttrycka sig verbalt. Pedagogerna medger också att det finns vissa hinder sompåverkar barns möjlighet till inflytande och delaktighet i förskolan. Barnen själva uttrycker attdet är de vuxna som bestämmer i förskolan, och att de vuxna bara lyssnar på dem ”ibland”.Barnen berättar att det är mest kring leken som de själva får bestämma om och de ger ocksåsitt perspektiv på hur tillgänglig förskolans lärmiljö och material är. Resultatet visar att barninte har så stor kännedom om sina rättigheter, och inte heller är särskilt bekanta med uttrycksom demokrati, delaktighet och inflytande. De reflektioner som framkommer utifrån studienär hur viktigt det är att förstå begreppen för att kunna arbeta medvetet med inflytande ochdelaktighet i förskolan, och för att det ska ske utifrån demokratiska principer snarare än att detblir en slags skendemokrati. I studien framkommer det att när barn ges inflytande och kännersig delaktiga i förskolans vardag ökar deras trivsel och lärande, något som främjar barnenshälsa och välbefinnande. En viktig faktor utifrån ett specialpedagogiskt perspektiv är att hållai och utveckla det hälsofrämjande arbetet i förskolan utifrån olika skyddsfaktorer. Detta kan vara en viktig roll för en specialpedagog. / Preschool teachers have an important responsibility in promoting children's health and wellbeingas well as a responsibility to give each child the conditions to develop and learn. Oneway to make this possible is through influence and participation, which is seen as one ofseveral health-promoting factors. It’s a fundamental right to experience participation, expressone's opinions and be listened to, and the way in which children are given the conditions forthis in preschool is something that is investigated in this study. All children, regardless of age,functional variation, and experience, have the right to express their opinions. Therefore, thereneed to be methods that enable all children, even those with limited communication skills, tobe given the conditions to allow them to express themselves. This may mean that educatorsneed to be extra sensitive to children's expressions, as well as offer different forms ofcommunication and means of expression. Through interviews with seven teachers and twelvechildren, we understand their different perspectives on influence and participation inpreschool. The results show that teachers have some difficulties in distinguishing between theconcepts, and even if they are not synonymous, they are closely related. The teachers believethat the children can be involved and influence their own everyday lives, that the teachers aresensitive to the children’s wishes and describe different working methods that they use to takeadvantage of children's opinions. The children's participation is described as something moreconcrete, to be able to participate and become involved in what is done in everyday life at thepreschool. An important result of this study is that preschool teachers believe that somechildren have more influence and participation than others in preschool, it’s described aschildren who are louder and can express themselves verbally. The teachers also admit thatthere are certain obstacles that affect children's opportunities for influence and participation inpreschool. The children themselves express that it´s the adults who decide at preschool, andthat the adults only listen to them ”sometimes”. The children say that it´s mostly about theplay where the children themselves decide and they also give their perspectives on theaccessibility of the preschool's learning environment and materials. The results show thatchildren do not have much knowledge of their rights, nor are they very familiar withexpressions as democracy, participation, and influence. The reflections that emerge from thestudy are that it’s important to understand the concepts in order to be able to work consciouslywith influence and participation in preschool, and for it to take place on the basis ofdemocratic principles rather than a kind of sham democracy. The study showed that whenchildren are given influence and feel involved in the preschool's everyday life, their wellbeingand learning increases, which promotes the children's health and well-being. Animportant factor from a special educational perspective is to maintain and develop the healthpromoting work in the preschool based on various protective factors. This can be an importantrole for a special educator.

The study investigates preschool children’s perspectives on the outdoors as a learning environment in an Irish context. The aim is to gain preschool children’s perspectives on their outdoor learning environment as too often children’s perspectives are not represented in research. The research aims to answer questions regarding how children engage with the outdoor environment, how the environment affords them different possibilities and what parts of the environment the children deem important. This study is a qualitative study using different methods to gain the children’s perspectives. The methods include participant observations, photography tours and semi-structured interviews. The research was conducted in three outdoor preschools in Ireland, a total of 45 children participated.   The findings of the research show that children are very creative in the way in which they use their preschool environments. Outdoor spaces were where the children engaged in physical activities and imaginative play in the outdoor environments, revealing the multifaceted engagement of children. The environment also afforded the children many sensory experiences which resonated differently among the children. The children also placed importance on the relationships they have formed within the preschool with friends and teachers. The connection children had with nature was also evident throughout the results and reflected their curiosity about their surroundings. Children from different preschools seem to have many similar experiences while also having individual and unique experiences of their own. It is evident while shared experiences exist among the participants each child’s experience is distinct in its own way. The study is significant as it highlights the importance and need for young children to be a part of the research process and how their opinions are important as they are the ones with first hand experiences. Ultimately this study shows the pivotal role children’s perspectives play in understanding their experiences in outdoor educational environments.

Researchers have taken a particular interest in children’s drawings as a means of representing and communicating knowledge and perspectives but a review of literature reveals that researchers routinely use drawings as a way of obtaining data without considering their function or value. This ESRC-funded research aims to explore drawing as a method of accessing children's perspectives and has three central research objectives which consider methodological and analytical factors relating to the use of children’s drawings as a research tool. These are: to develop a principled approach to analysing and interpreting children’s drawings, to create guidelines for the use of drawing as a research tool, and to gather children’s perspectives on play through the method of drawing. The research objectives were achieved by asking the following three questions: How can children’s drawings be analysed using a principled approach? What are the major factors to be considered when using drawing as a research tool? What can drawings reveal about children's perspectives on play? The study involved two visits to the homes of eight preschool children aged four. The sample included four girls and four boys from central and north-east Scotland with half of the families being categorised as being of low socioeconomic status. Visits were flexible and unstructured allowing the child autonomy regarding our level of interaction and the types of activities (such as free play and conversation) with which they wished to engage. The second visit included a prompted drawing activity in which I invited children to express their perspectives on play. The topic of play was chosen (i) to offer children a meaningful research activity to investigate the issues surrounding the method, (ii) to explore the task of representing an abstract, yet familiar, concept and how this may influence children’s drawings and representations of play, and (iii) as an extension of the ESRC project Young Children Learning with Toys and Technology at Home (Plowman et al., 2012) by giving greater emphasis to children's own perspectives on play and exploring the ways in which this can be achieved. My theoretical approach is not to consider drawings as reproductions of reality, but to value and attempt to understand children’s drawings as a semiotic vehicle in which messages are created and conveyed during the drawing process through representation and signification. Informed by social semiotics (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996) the research presents an innovative four-step approach to analysing children's drawings (4-SASA). The protocol, a key contribution of the research, was developed to promote a more systematic analysis, involving (i) isolating signs within drawings through manual annotation, (ii) documenting the child’s understanding of signs and the significance attributed to them, (iii) organising signs using specific categories of social semiotic analysis (mode, size, colour, salience) and identifying the child’s motivation and interest for specific sign production, and (iv) synthesis of the child’s perspectives from steps 1-3. Post hoc methodological examinations elucidated the following four key factors to be considered when using young children’s drawings: (i) contextual sensitivity of the drawing process, (ii) children’s perceptions of the research task, (iii) the complex task of representing an abstract and elusive concept such as play, and (iv) whether there is a fundamental difference between drawing spontaneously (non-commissioned) and drawing on request. Evidence from the study supports previous literature in demonstrating the potential of drawing as a method of accessing children’s perspectives. However, findings suggest that rather than routinely selecting drawing as a method for representing children’s perspectives, researchers need to be more thoughtful about the ways in which factors such as the social and contextual framing of drawing and approaches to data collection can affect research outcomes. The thesis concludes by discussing how these emerging issues impact research outcomes, along with implications for future implementation and analysis of drawings.

‘Child trafficking’ as a phenomenon requiring a policy and practice response has, in recent years gathered considerable pace. ‘Child trafficking’ is a crosscutting social issue, relevant to policy areas of child protection, child migration, criminal justice, immigration, social policy and human rights. This thesis explores children’s own accounts and lived experiences of ‘child trafficking’, addressing a notable gap in hearing from children directly. The thesis critically engages with the social construction of the ‘trafficked child’ examining how contemporary concepts of childhood shape and inform ‘child trafficking’ policy and practice. How ‘child trafficking’ policy has been constructed politically is examined, in shaping how ‘child trafficking’ is defined in practice. The implications for children experiencing trafficking of a system built on current assumptions about childhood and ‘child trafficking’ are considered. The study explores how children’s experiences of their childhood and ‘child trafficking’ challenge many assumptions underpinning policy and practice. The findings reveal a disjuncture between immigration-driven and prosecution focused ‘child trafficking’ practice and children requiring a welfare and individualised response to their needs. Children needed practitioners to listen to them, believe them and take action upon child protection concerns. A conclusion is drawn that the way in which ‘child trafficking’ policy and practice in England is presently constructed, and experienced, appears not to reflect the lived ‘realties’ of young people in this study. A new approach to ‘child trafficking’ policy and practice is recommended underpinned by a conceptual shift in how we perceive childhood and adolescence. Intended audiences of this study include policy-makers and front-line practitioners including social workers, the police, immigration officers and other services. This qualitative study contributes in developing methods with a hard to access population addressing a difficult subject area, promoting children and young people’s participation in research.

<p>The aim of this study is to contribute to understanding of how children try to understand and interpret their own father and his (possibly) violent actions against their mother in relation to their general conceptualizations concerning fathers and violence. A general social psychological and interactionist approach is related to the children’s selves as the organizing and experiencing structures, the family as the arena for experiences and communicative interaction, and society as a structure of norms and general ideas. </p><p>The study is based on interviews with ten children, who were eight to twelve years old at the time of the interview and whose mothers had escaped from their fathers’ violence to a Women’s House. Qualitative interpretation of each child’s complex abstracted and generalized conceptualizations of fathers and violence enabled the understanding of individual themes as crucial parts of each child’s logically unified and conciliated symbolic meaning through the theoretical construct of negotiation. </p><p>The study results in the identification of three alternative theoretical approaches to meaning-conciliation. One can be described as ‘conceptual fission’ in the general conception of fathers, one as ‘conceptual fission’ in the conception of the own father and one as negotiating the extension of the opposite of violence, described as ‘goodness’. These negotiations can be understood as parts of distancing violence from either one subgroup of fathers, from the overall, essential or principle understanding of the own father within the child’s relationship with him, or from fathers altogether, including the child’s own. The children’s attempts to combine normalization of their father as an individual with resistance to his violent acts are interpreted as indicating the difficulty that the combination of the social deviancy of violence and the family context constitutes for many children. </p>