In the past twenty years there has been a movement against the tradition of positivist, scientific research that treats children as the ‘object’ of research. This movement has been led by the sociology of childhood literature but also has supporters in disciplines such as developmental psychology and early childhood studies. Research within this new paradigm often seeks to gain the perspectives and lived experiences of children, giving them a voice through naturalistic methodologies such as ethnography and informal interviews. However, giving children a ‘voice’ has not been purely an academic endeavour. Supported by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) which stipulates that States should assure that children have the right to express their views in all matters affecting them, there is a push at all levels of government for children to be given a chance to express their views on issues that concern them. In Australia and overseas, the consulting of children on issues that concern them has become more commonplace. Thus in both research and policy development, methodologies which enable adults to get closer to the world of the child and to hear their views are being explored. This thesis explores some of the issues involved in this form of qualitative research with children. It does so through combining theoretical exposition and systematic reflection with the author’s own empirical research which sought to gain an understanding of young children’s views of ‘difference’ through an ethnographic methodology. Part One provides the theoretical base for the thesis, by exploring how ‘the child’ and childhood have been conceptualised within western thought. Drawing on the sociology of childhood, it also probes a number of the implications of this tradition and examines how it has shaped research on children both in terms of the methods that have been employed and the topics that have been of interest. Both chapters in Part Two focus on the empirical component of the study. The first is an extended methodology chapter which explores not only the method employed and the research setting but also some of the challenges that the author faced in the field and a discussion of issues such as ethics and the status of the researcher. Using logs of the children’s activities and the author’s field journal, the next chapter explores how the initial research question altered and the issues that came to the fore during the research. Part Three reconsiders a number of the theoretical issues raised in Part One in light of the fieldwork discussed in Part Two. It asks how certain ethnographic studies, claiming affiliation with the sociology of childhood, nevertheless ended up with depictions of children not far from the positivistic studies their authors had critiqued. It argues that this can be explained by the persistence of a ‘problem centred’ adultcentric frame which privileges understanding of a particular issue (e.g. the development of racism in children) over the actual experiences of individual children. Given the renewed interest in consulting children this proposition has practical as well as theoretical significance as it reveals how easy it is for slippage to occur and the importance of preventing it.

<p> This study positions itself in the field of international/global Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). The early years of child development constitute what is often viewed as the most significant developmental period of the entire life-cycle. Studies have pointed to a range of benefits that ECCE programs can provide, leading to a greater interest in the field of ECCE globally. International/global ECCE is predominantly determined by Western derived theories and programs. Some Western derived ECCE programs assert their universal applicability, but there is criticism and opposition to the perceived ethnocentricity of these programs. Such resistance raises fundamental questions about what forms globally orientated ECCE programs should take. </p><p> This exploratory comparative case-study explores the <i>lived-experiences, perceptions</i> and <i>praxes</i> of ECCE educators in Lebanon and Denmark, as well as the <i>habitus</i> from which these arise. These constructs were investigated through the use of a qualitative, comparative, embedded-design case-study. In-depth phenomenological interviews, structured and unstructured observations/participant-observations and document analysis were used to collect data. The data was analyzed thematically utilizing open/axial/selective coding and a priori themes. </p><p> The four participants&rsquo; perceptions converged with regards to the perception that child-educator ratios have implications for ECCE praxis. All the participants held that their approaches to ECCE were child-centered, although their interpretations of what constituted child-centered praxis differed. The participants believed that parents play an important role in ECCE, but the relationship between educator and parent is not always easy. Finally, all the participants felt a deep love for ECCE, and had done so ever since they first came into contact with the field. The Lebanese and Danish cases diverged on their perceptions of ECCE curriculum and whether or not they believed that ECCE praxis is an extension of motherhood.</p><p>

A infância e a atuação das crianças na sociedade nem sempre foram objeto de interesse por parte dos pesquisadores dos campos da sociologia e da educação, mas os processos de socialização foram estudados com afinco. Esta tese não trata dos modos de socializar as crianças, mas da forma como elas socializam-se e interagem nos seus espaços sociais. O objetivo principal é compreender como, em um determinado grupo de crianças, suas ações estiveram articuladas às instâncias da mídia, da escola e da família com o intuito de explicitar, através da prática, a necessidade de um diálogo pertinente entre as teorias de socialização e as teorias da sociologia da infância. Assim sendo, esta pesquisa está fundamentada em quatro pilares: a estrutura institucional, a agência das crianças, a história da infância e das crianças e os sentidos produzidos por elas na atualidade. A estrutura das instituições família, escola e mídia representa um elemento central para a análise das ações infantis, pois as crianças nascem em um contexto histórico-cultural e precisam aprender a se orientar e a entender as regras e os valores construídos pela sociedade. As crianças, na interação com seus pares e demais indivíduos, atuam e manifestam-se; provocam, de algum modo, modificações na estrutura institucional. Assim, as interações ocorridas entre elas produzem outros sentidos e valores. É, portanto, a análise desses sentidos infantis que oferece a possibilidade de conhecer as conexões indissociáveis e intensas que existem entre as teorias dos processos de socialização e as teorias da sociologia da infância, visto que não há socialização sem participação e atuação, assim como não há regras e normas que não produzam ações. / Despite the fact that processes of socialization were always insistently considered as the subject of educational and sociological fields of study, childhood and the acting of children in society not always have been the subjects of researchers. The present dissertation does not deal with the modes by which children are socialized, instead it deals with the ways children socialize themselves and interact in their social spaces. The main goal is to understand how, in a determinate group of children, their actions were articulated with media, school, and family instances with the aim of making explicit, through practice, the need of a pertinent dialogue between socialization theories and the theories of the sociology of childhood. In this case, the present research is based in four pillars: the institutional structure, the childrens agency, the history of childhood and children, and the meanings generated by them in the present. The structure of institutions family, school, and media represents a central element for the analysis of childrens agency, for the children are born in a cultural-historical milieu and they need to learn how to guide themselves and how to understand the rules and the values constructed by the society. The children, in their interaction with their peers and other individuals, act and manifest themselves; they somehow cause modifications in the institutional structures. Then, the interactions occurred between them produce other meanings and values. It is, therefore, the analysis of these infantile meanings that can offer the possibility for us to know the inseparable and intense connections that exist between the theories of processes of socialization and the theories of the sociology of childhood, for there are no socialization without participation and acting, as well as there are no rules or norms that cannot produce actions.

This project looked at two different sets of data to further understand the relationship between surveillance discourse and the Internet, how surveillance discourse around navigating the Internet has developed, and how children use social technology and digital media for positive communication as well as an alternative space for social engagement. This project argues that there is a disconnect between the way children use social technology, and the approach authoritative websites take in aiming to educate parents, educators, and children on using the Internet safely. This study performs a thematic content analysis on websites that aim to educate on Internet Safety. Additionally, this qualitative study focuses on semi-structured interviews with grade 4-6 students in a French language school in Western Ontario and their reaction to the question, “how do you use technology”. This project is a stepping-stone into many conversations around the possibilities present for the Internet, children, and communication.

This project looked at two different sets of data to further understand the relationship between surveillance discourse and the Internet, how surveillance discourse around navigating the Internet has developed, and how children use social technology and digital media for positive communication as well as an alternative space for social engagement. This project argues that there is a disconnect between the way children use social technology, and the approach authoritative websites take in aiming to educate parents, educators, and children on using the Internet safely. This study performs a thematic content analysis on websites that aim to educate on Internet Safety. Additionally, this qualitative study focuses on semi-structured interviews with grade 4-6 students in a French language school in Western Ontario and their reaction to the question, “how do you use technology”. This project is a stepping-stone into many conversations around the possibilities present for the Internet, children, and communication.

A presente pesquisa disserta sobre as concepções de música de um grupo de crianças de seis e sete anos do primeiro ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola da rede municipal de Porto Alegre. Objetiva investigar construções, relações, reelaborações, modos de agir e pensar sobre música do aluno a partir da interação sócio-cultural no contexto da escola. O marco teórico apoia-se nos estudos da Epistemologia Genética, da Sociologia da Infância e da Educação Musical na Escola, buscando conciliar pontos de vista na interpretação das concepções de música da criança. Constitui material empírico desta pesquisa fatos recolhidos no contexto da sala de aula através de diálogos, entrevistas informais, gestos e expressões do corpo e interações das crianças na participação das atividades musicais. O enfoque metodológico da coleta de dados segue os princípios do Grupo Focal no planejamento e organização das conversas em grupo e definição do papel do mediador. Os dados foram registrados em diários de campo e filmes, posteriormente degravados e analisados. Os resultados desta pesquisa mostram que as concepções das crianças sobre música manifestam-se e elaboram-se em suas verbalizações, nos saberes cotidianos midiáticos que são incorporados ao que compreende sobre música, aos elementos musicais do contexto social que são evocados como referência para dar sentido às experiências da escola, ao modo como demonstra saber o que é música através da corporeidade manifesta nos gestos musicais e que se objetiva no protagonismo ao construir suas próprias concepções. As construções musicais dos alunos e o sentir-se competente nas realizações e atividades também evidenciam concepções das crianças sobre música. A análise das categorias retiradas do material coletado, imbricadas na concepção de música das crianças, evidenciou o papel das trocas sociais na constituição das ideias e conceituações acerca da música, que estão em constante reconstrução se em contato com os materiais musicais. Conclui-se que a criança em processo de interação musical constrói os conceitos a partir da sua ação no contexto musical, dentro e fora da escola, e esses acabarão por se multiplicar, na medida em que a concepção de música que o aluno possui for ampla e respeitada na diversidade de práticas culturais na escola. / This current research discourses about music conceptions in a group of six and seven-year-old children who are on the first grade at a municipal school in Porto Alegre. It aims to investigate constructions, relations, reelaborations, ways to act and think about the students’ music from the school socio-cultural context. The theoretical starting point is supported by studies of Genetic Epistemology, Sociology in Childhood and Musical Education at School searching to conciliate points of view in the interpretation of the child’s musical conceptions. Facts collected from the school context through dialogues, informal interviews, gestures and corporal expressions and the interaction among children in musical activities are empirical material of this research. The methodological focus of the collected data follows the Focal Groups principles in planning and organizing group conversation and the definition of the mediator role. The collected data was registered on field diaries and films that were lately transcribed and analyzed. The results of this research show that children conceptions about music are demonstrated and elaborated when verbally expressed, in daily learning from the media which is incorporated in what they know about music, to musical elements from their social context that are elicited as reference to give meaning to the school experiences, to the way they show what they know about music through the materiality expressed on musical gestures and which becomes concrete on protagonism to construct their own conceptions. The students’ musical constructions and the feeling of being able to accomplish and do the activities also make children’s musical conceptions evident. The analysis of the categories from the collected material inserted on children’s musical conceptions, made evident the role of social exchanges in the constitution of ideas and opinions about music which are in constant reconstruction if they get in contact with musical material. The musical conceptions built by the children of this research show that the musical activities provided by the school, which valorize the potential and the expression of the infantile culture, are essential to their musical development in the school context.

<p> This study explores the role of interracial parents in the development of racial identity in their mixed race children by examining how conversations surrounding race in a mixed race family relate to the ways children in that family racially identify. In addition, the study explores how parents&rsquo; understandings and perceptions of their own racial identity and their child&rsquo;s racial identity affect the way their child feels about race. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on self-identified interracial parents and their mixed race children between the ages of 4 to 9 years old based on themes regarding mixed race identity including family&rsquo;s identity, racial awareness of the child, dual socialization, and sociocultural factors. This study found that parents early experiences growing up, phenotypic expression of parent and child, current political climate, stereotypes and influence of schools had related to the ways in which parents discussed race with their children. More research must be done on mixed race identity, particularly outside of Black/White dichotomies.</p><p>

A presente pesquisa disserta sobre as concepções de música de um grupo de crianças de seis e sete anos do primeiro ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola da rede municipal de Porto Alegre. Objetiva investigar construções, relações, reelaborações, modos de agir e pensar sobre música do aluno a partir da interação sócio-cultural no contexto da escola. O marco teórico apoia-se nos estudos da Epistemologia Genética, da Sociologia da Infância e da Educação Musical na Escola, buscando conciliar pontos de vista na interpretação das concepções de música da criança. Constitui material empírico desta pesquisa fatos recolhidos no contexto da sala de aula através de diálogos, entrevistas informais, gestos e expressões do corpo e interações das crianças na participação das atividades musicais. O enfoque metodológico da coleta de dados segue os princípios do Grupo Focal no planejamento e organização das conversas em grupo e definição do papel do mediador. Os dados foram registrados em diários de campo e filmes, posteriormente degravados e analisados. Os resultados desta pesquisa mostram que as concepções das crianças sobre música manifestam-se e elaboram-se em suas verbalizações, nos saberes cotidianos midiáticos que são incorporados ao que compreende sobre música, aos elementos musicais do contexto social que são evocados como referência para dar sentido às experiências da escola, ao modo como demonstra saber o que é música através da corporeidade manifesta nos gestos musicais e que se objetiva no protagonismo ao construir suas próprias concepções. As construções musicais dos alunos e o sentir-se competente nas realizações e atividades também evidenciam concepções das crianças sobre música. A análise das categorias retiradas do material coletado, imbricadas na concepção de música das crianças, evidenciou o papel das trocas sociais na constituição das ideias e conceituações acerca da música, que estão em constante reconstrução se em contato com os materiais musicais. Conclui-se que a criança em processo de interação musical constrói os conceitos a partir da sua ação no contexto musical, dentro e fora da escola, e esses acabarão por se multiplicar, na medida em que a concepção de música que o aluno possui for ampla e respeitada na diversidade de práticas culturais na escola. / This current research discourses about music conceptions in a group of six and seven-year-old children who are on the first grade at a municipal school in Porto Alegre. It aims to investigate constructions, relations, reelaborations, ways to act and think about the students’ music from the school socio-cultural context. The theoretical starting point is supported by studies of Genetic Epistemology, Sociology in Childhood and Musical Education at School searching to conciliate points of view in the interpretation of the child’s musical conceptions. Facts collected from the school context through dialogues, informal interviews, gestures and corporal expressions and the interaction among children in musical activities are empirical material of this research. The methodological focus of the collected data follows the Focal Groups principles in planning and organizing group conversation and the definition of the mediator role. The collected data was registered on field diaries and films that were lately transcribed and analyzed. The results of this research show that children conceptions about music are demonstrated and elaborated when verbally expressed, in daily learning from the media which is incorporated in what they know about music, to musical elements from their social context that are elicited as reference to give meaning to the school experiences, to the way they show what they know about music through the materiality expressed on musical gestures and which becomes concrete on protagonism to construct their own conceptions. The students’ musical constructions and the feeling of being able to accomplish and do the activities also make children’s musical conceptions evident. The analysis of the categories from the collected material inserted on children’s musical conceptions, made evident the role of social exchanges in the constitution of ideas and opinions about music which are in constant reconstruction if they get in contact with musical material. The musical conceptions built by the children of this research show that the musical activities provided by the school, which valorize the potential and the expression of the infantile culture, are essential to their musical development in the school context.

A infância e a atuação das crianças na sociedade nem sempre foram objeto de interesse por parte dos pesquisadores dos campos da sociologia e da educação, mas os processos de socialização foram estudados com afinco. Esta tese não trata dos modos de socializar as crianças, mas da forma como elas socializam-se e interagem nos seus espaços sociais. O objetivo principal é compreender como, em um determinado grupo de crianças, suas ações estiveram articuladas às instâncias da mídia, da escola e da família com o intuito de explicitar, através da prática, a necessidade de um diálogo pertinente entre as teorias de socialização e as teorias da sociologia da infância. Assim sendo, esta pesquisa está fundamentada em quatro pilares: a estrutura institucional, a agência das crianças, a história da infância e das crianças e os sentidos produzidos por elas na atualidade. A estrutura das instituições família, escola e mídia representa um elemento central para a análise das ações infantis, pois as crianças nascem em um contexto histórico-cultural e precisam aprender a se orientar e a entender as regras e os valores construídos pela sociedade. As crianças, na interação com seus pares e demais indivíduos, atuam e manifestam-se; provocam, de algum modo, modificações na estrutura institucional. Assim, as interações ocorridas entre elas produzem outros sentidos e valores. É, portanto, a análise desses sentidos infantis que oferece a possibilidade de conhecer as conexões indissociáveis e intensas que existem entre as teorias dos processos de socialização e as teorias da sociologia da infância, visto que não há socialização sem participação e atuação, assim como não há regras e normas que não produzam ações. / Despite the fact that processes of socialization were always insistently considered as the subject of educational and sociological fields of study, childhood and the acting of children in society not always have been the subjects of researchers. The present dissertation does not deal with the modes by which children are socialized, instead it deals with the ways children socialize themselves and interact in their social spaces. The main goal is to understand how, in a determinate group of children, their actions were articulated with media, school, and family instances with the aim of making explicit, through practice, the need of a pertinent dialogue between socialization theories and the theories of the sociology of childhood. In this case, the present research is based in four pillars: the institutional structure, the childrens agency, the history of childhood and children, and the meanings generated by them in the present. The structure of institutions family, school, and media represents a central element for the analysis of childrens agency, for the children are born in a cultural-historical milieu and they need to learn how to guide themselves and how to understand the rules and the values constructed by the society. The children, in their interaction with their peers and other individuals, act and manifest themselves; they somehow cause modifications in the institutional structures. Then, the interactions occurred between them produce other meanings and values. It is, therefore, the analysis of these infantile meanings that can offer the possibility for us to know the inseparable and intense connections that exist between the theories of processes of socialization and the theories of the sociology of childhood, for there are no socialization without participation and acting, as well as there are no rules or norms that cannot produce actions.

A presente pesquisa disserta sobre as concepções de música de um grupo de crianças de seis e sete anos do primeiro ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola da rede municipal de Porto Alegre. Objetiva investigar construções, relações, reelaborações, modos de agir e pensar sobre música do aluno a partir da interação sócio-cultural no contexto da escola. O marco teórico apoia-se nos estudos da Epistemologia Genética, da Sociologia da Infância e da Educação Musical na Escola, buscando conciliar pontos de vista na interpretação das concepções de música da criança. Constitui material empírico desta pesquisa fatos recolhidos no contexto da sala de aula através de diálogos, entrevistas informais, gestos e expressões do corpo e interações das crianças na participação das atividades musicais. O enfoque metodológico da coleta de dados segue os princípios do Grupo Focal no planejamento e organização das conversas em grupo e definição do papel do mediador. Os dados foram registrados em diários de campo e filmes, posteriormente degravados e analisados. Os resultados desta pesquisa mostram que as concepções das crianças sobre música manifestam-se e elaboram-se em suas verbalizações, nos saberes cotidianos midiáticos que são incorporados ao que compreende sobre música, aos elementos musicais do contexto social que são evocados como referência para dar sentido às experiências da escola, ao modo como demonstra saber o que é música através da corporeidade manifesta nos gestos musicais e que se objetiva no protagonismo ao construir suas próprias concepções. As construções musicais dos alunos e o sentir-se competente nas realizações e atividades também evidenciam concepções das crianças sobre música. A análise das categorias retiradas do material coletado, imbricadas na concepção de música das crianças, evidenciou o papel das trocas sociais na constituição das ideias e conceituações acerca da música, que estão em constante reconstrução se em contato com os materiais musicais. Conclui-se que a criança em processo de interação musical constrói os conceitos a partir da sua ação no contexto musical, dentro e fora da escola, e esses acabarão por se multiplicar, na medida em que a concepção de música que o aluno possui for ampla e respeitada na diversidade de práticas culturais na escola. / This current research discourses about music conceptions in a group of six and seven-year-old children who are on the first grade at a municipal school in Porto Alegre. It aims to investigate constructions, relations, reelaborations, ways to act and think about the students’ music from the school socio-cultural context. The theoretical starting point is supported by studies of Genetic Epistemology, Sociology in Childhood and Musical Education at School searching to conciliate points of view in the interpretation of the child’s musical conceptions. Facts collected from the school context through dialogues, informal interviews, gestures and corporal expressions and the interaction among children in musical activities are empirical material of this research. The methodological focus of the collected data follows the Focal Groups principles in planning and organizing group conversation and the definition of the mediator role. The collected data was registered on field diaries and films that were lately transcribed and analyzed. The results of this research show that children conceptions about music are demonstrated and elaborated when verbally expressed, in daily learning from the media which is incorporated in what they know about music, to musical elements from their social context that are elicited as reference to give meaning to the school experiences, to the way they show what they know about music through the materiality expressed on musical gestures and which becomes concrete on protagonism to construct their own conceptions. The students’ musical constructions and the feeling of being able to accomplish and do the activities also make children’s musical conceptions evident. The analysis of the categories from the collected material inserted on children’s musical conceptions, made evident the role of social exchanges in the constitution of ideas and opinions about music which are in constant reconstruction if they get in contact with musical material. The musical conceptions built by the children of this research show that the musical activities provided by the school, which valorize the potential and the expression of the infantile culture, are essential to their musical development in the school context.