This study explores young children's use of digital tablets in Swedish preschool environments, with special interest in how the use of digital tablets may affect children's agency. A multimodal, design theoretical approach was used, combined with sociology of childhood, to highlight the dynamics between children's agency and the affordances provided by the digital tablets. Two video ethnographic substudies were conducted within two separate preschool settings, including preschools where children use digital tablets to communicate in a minority language. In order to take into account as many modes of communication as possible, video recordings of children's use of the digital tablets was set side-by-side with screen recordings of the digital tablets. Major findings include how children's agency in digital tablet activities is intertwined with the different affordances, as emerging in the children's interaction with one another and the digital tablet. It was found that when affordances were built on visual, auditive and corporeal modes of communication, children's agency was enabled. Such affordances are in this study argued to be more, for the children, apt modes of communication for children to exert agency. Furthermore, it is argued that when children are given the possibility to communicate in their minority language, using for example Skype, this is a form of children's agency. The didactical implications and the societal potentials for children's use of digital tablets in preschools are discussed in relation to the creative skills individuals may need in an unknown future.

This thesis examines how the agency of working children relates to the nature of their work and the harm caused by it. Theorists and practitioners specialised in children’s work have argued that its harms should be understood from the perspectives of working children and that efforts to improve their situation should involve them and meet the interests they express. Their approach is premised on children’s capacity for autonomous and rational decision making. The thesis develops an alternative approach, by examining harm in children’s work and children’s responses to it with an understanding of agency as being conditioned by material and social contexts. Its theoretical purpose is to use Bourdieu’s theory to examine children’s work. Its methodological contribution is that it studies children’s work as a practice, rather than children’s individual experiences and perspectives on their work. This involved investigation of patterns characterising forms of children’s work, and exploration of why these patterns exist and how they might be changing which focuses on how children are involved and affected. The thesis is based on empirical study of children’s work in cement block construction in peri-urban localities, as apprentices in Calavi, Benin, and as unskilled workers in northern Bengaluru, in the state of Karnataka, India. Construction is recognised as a worst form of children’s work by the ILO, but the work studied was locally condoned. In Calavi, apprenticeship was considered as professional training, and in Bengaluru, children’s construction work contributed to family livelihoods. These are the kind of work situations that social scientists who stress children’s agency have suggested are likely to be beneficial. Main sources of data were observations of construction work and interviews with workers, mostly children, as well as their direct employers. Interviewed children did not see their work as seriously harmful, although it was found to risk impairing their physical integrity and to confirm their inequality. In Calavi, children were much more oppressed in their work than children in Bengaluru, but in both sites children acted with reasons and interests. They did not however act to change harmful work conditions. Analysis shows how their age, gender and class positions might have shaped their perspectives in ways which explain why they largely accepted them. The children’s shared hope that their own children would not work as they had indicated their involvement in social change which might be undermining their work practices. The findings confirm the importance of examining children’s perspectives in attempt to understand the causes and consequences of their work. Yet they suggest that children may not always be able to identify harm, and thus the relevance of pursued efforts to develop ways of studying harm in children’s work which do not assume their capacity for autonomous and rational decision making or rely primarily on their perspectives.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how social workers participate in the operationalization of children's agency in child welfare research. In order to fulfill the purpose and answer our questions, we have used qualitative semistructured interviews. The study is based on statements from 7 social workers working whit child welfare investigation in small to medium-sized municipalities in south of Sweden. In the analysis of our collected material, we started from the sociology of childhood.  The fact that children are given the opportunity to act themselves is a prerequisite for their right to participation and influence, so that children's agency goes hand in hand with the provisions of the Social Services Act and the Children's Convention on the Influence and Participation of Children. Social security officers working on child welfare investigations should always work on the basis that it is in the best interest for the child. In order for this to be considered fulfilled in practice, the child must be able to express her/his views and wishes, and that they are important in both the investigation process and the decision making.  The result of our study shows that Social Security Officers work actively to promote children's agency and with different strategies motivate the children to actively participate. It has also been found that there are factors that complicate children's participation and, especially, influence in decision making. We found that social security officers look at their responsibility for children's rights to participation and influence as a major and important task, though with different meanings and solutions.

Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om hur barn i åldern ett till tre år får möjlighet att vara delaktiga och skapa inflytande över sin utbildning i förskolan. Läroplanen (Skolverket 2018) lyfter fram att barn har rätt till delaktighet och inflytande. Vad delaktighet och inflytande innebär är däremot inget som står skrivet i läroplanen (Skolverket 2018) vilket gör att det finns ett stort tolkningsutrymme för dessa begrepp. Följden av det blir att pedagoger arbetar utifrån olika tolkningar vilket resulterar i olika förhållningssätt. Med denna studie vill vi därför undersöka och bidra till mer kunskap om hur delaktighet och inflytande kan komma till uttryck på förskolor. Studien bygger på observationer som gjordes på sju förskolor. Analysen av resultaten utgår från begreppen – barns agency, barns perspektiv och barnperspektiv. Resultatet visar att pedagogerna uppvisar en medvetenhet om barns delaktighet och inflytande genom att uppmärksamma barnens intressen, tankar och åsikter för att utveckla verksamheten. De möter barnens motstånd och agerar utifrån vad som är bäst i den specifika situationen. Barns delaktighet kommer till uttryck på olika sätt vid de undersökta förskolorna i undersökningen. Barnen är aktiva deltagare, interagerar med varandra och på så vis skapar relationer, uppvisar motstånd och avslutningsvis påverkar ramarna inom den pedagogiska verksamheten.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur barns inflytande och delaktighet kan se ut i praktiken i relation till förskolans planerade morgon samling. Vi formulerade två frågor i relation till syftet: På vilka sätt skapas inflytande och delaktighet i förskolans samling för en yngre barngrupp (1–2 år)? På vilka sätt skapas inflytande och delaktighet i förskolans samling för en äldre barngrupp (3–5 år)? Den metod som användes för att besvara frågorna var observationer med hjälp av filminspelning. Det studieobjekt som observerades var barns uttryck och reaktioner med pedagogerna under samlingarna. Analysen av den insamlade empirin gjordes med hjälp av barndomssociologisk teori samt Shiers modell. Resultaten visade att barnens engagemang påverkades av olika faktorer såsom ålder, miljö och innehållet i samlingen. Språket visade sig vara avgörande för att möjliggöra delaktighet och inflytande, och pedagogerna hade en aktiv roll i att främja kommunikationen, både verbalt och med kroppsspråk. Enligt Shiers modell ligger inflytande och delaktighet på nivå ett, två och tre, där barn ges möjlighet att delta genom att pedagogerna bjuder in dem att uttrycka sina tankar och åsikter, vilket ligger i linje med artikel 12 i FN-konventionen.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka de erfarenheter förskollärare beskriver om skapandet av den fysiska miljön i förskolan utifrån barns intressen, nyfikenhet och undersökande i stunden. För att nå vårt valda syfte har vi utgått från följande frågeställningar: Vilka strategier använder förskollärare för att ge barnen inflytande över utformningen av den fysiska miljön i förskolan? Vilka utmaningar lyfter förskollärare att de möter i skapandet av fysiska miljöer i förskolan utifrån barns intresse och undersökande? Vi har valt att utgå från ett barndomssociologiskt perspektiv i studien, vilket inte enbart handlar om kunskapen om barn och barndom utan något som också bör förstås i relation till tid och rum. Detta betyder att barn blir till och påverkas på olika sätt beroende på vilken miljö som omger dem. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ forskningsmetod, där det insamlade materialet har skett i fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med olika förskollärare. Resultatet visar på olika erfarenheter och utmaningar hos förskollärarna kring arbetet med att utforma en miljö utifrån barnens intresse och inflytande, samt betydelsen av vilket förhållningssätt förskolläraren väljer att ta. Förskollärarna beskriver såväl erfarenheter kring vikten av en gemensam barnsyn i arbetslaget som utmaningar i arbetet med att tillgodose varje enskilt barns behov och intressen. / The purpose of the study is to examine the experiences preschool teachers describe about the creation of the physical environment in preschool based on children's interests, curiosity and exploration in the moment. To achieve our chosen purpose, we have started from the following questions: What strategies do preschool teachers use to give the children influence over the design of the physical environment in preschool? What challenges do preschool teachers highlight that they face in the creation of physical environments in preschool based on children's interest and exploration? We have chosen to start from a childhood sociological perspective in the study, which is not only about the knowledge about children and childhood, but something that should also be understood in relation to time and space. This means that children are conceived and affected in different ways depending on the environment that surrounds them. We have used a qualitative research method, where the collected material has been done in four semi-structured interviews with different preschool teachers. The results show different experiences and challenges among the preschool teachers regarding the work of designing an environment based on the children's interest and influence, as well as the importance of the approach the preschool teacher chooses to take. The preschool teachers describe both experiences of the importance of a common view of children in the work team and challenges in the work to meet each individual child's needs and interests.