Children’s perspectives on why and when teachers listen to their ideas: Exploring opportunities for participation in the early years of school

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2021.101747Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Most young primary school children believed that teachers listen to their ideas.

  • Children typically reported being listened in monologic exchanges with teachers.

  • Children reported feeling valued when teachers listened to their ideas.

  • Children were aware of their capacity to generate important ideas and knowledge.

Abstract

Increasingly, young children are viewed as active citizens who can make meaningful decisions in their everyday worlds. However, limited research has explored children’s views about their participatory rights in classroom contexts. This longitudinal interview study followed 168 children from Year 1 (aged 6–7 years) to Year 3 (aged 8–9 years) of primary school, in Queensland, Australia, to understand their perspectives of being listened to by their teachers. Findings showed that most children believed teachers listened to their ideas, with the proportion of children expressing such views increasing over the three-year period. However, the children’s experiences of being listened to tended to occur during monologic rather than dialogic exchanges. Implications for future research, teaching, and learning are discussed.

Introduction

In international research and policy, there has been increasing focus on young children as rights holders and active citizens who are capable of making meaningful decisions that influence their everyday world. This focus is often based on the principle of participatory rights as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989). In particular, the General Comment on Article 12 (United Nations, 2009) outlines the rights of all children, regardless of age, to be heard and taken seriously as one of the fundamental values of the UN CRC. Throughout this paper we take the position that, when teachers listen to and activate children’s ideas, they are engaging in participatory pedagogies which empowers children to participate and therefore supports their rights to be heard in classroom contexts (Carey-Jenkins, 2018).

In Australia, educational policies tend to support children’s rights to participate. For example, Theobald et al.’s (Theobald, Danby, & Ailwood, 2011) analysis of child participation within policy frameworks, such as the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009–2020 (Council of Australian Governments, 2009) and the Early Years Learning Framework (Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations, 2009), found that educational policies often advocate for children’s participatory rights. More recently, the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (Council of Australian Governments, 2019), advocated for participatory rights through a vision of children as “Confident and creative individuals who…embrace opportunities, make informed decisions about their own lives…” (p. 6) and who are “active and informed members of the community who…contribute to local and national conversations” (p. 8). However, there have been few institutional changes to support the enactment of policy ideals (Theobald, 2019), and research has continued to document the problematic nature of enacting children’s participatory rights in educational contexts (Gillett-Swan & Sargeant, 2019; Quinn & Owen, 2016). In particular, limited research has explored children’s views about their participatory rights in Australian classroom contexts and no research has been identified that has tracked children’s perspectives across the early years of primary school. This paper addresses this gap by exploring children’s perspectives of being listened to by their teachers as they move from Year 1 to Year 3 of primary school.

While research has documented the positive impact of participatory pedagogies on children’s learning in both social and academic domains (see Kangas, Ojala, & Venninen, 2015; Millett & Tapper, 2012; Siddiqui, Gorard, & See, 2019; Walker, Wartenberg, & Winner, 2013), less is known about children’s own experiences and perspectives of being listened to and participating at school. In this section we first review literature that generally explores children’s experiences of participation, followed by a review of the literature which focuses on children’s experiences of participation with respect to school rules.

In a recent review of Australian research that employed child participatory methods from 2000 to 2018, Grace et al. (2019) analysed 207 papers from a variety of fields that met the inclusion criteria. The review included 46 education papers that sought children’s perspectives about range of topics, including early childhood education settings (Collings, Grace, & Llewellyn, 2016; Grace & Bowes, 2011); classroom choice and rules (Brownlee et al., 2012); and perceptions of child/student voice (Quinn & Owen, 2014; Sargeant & Gillett-Swan, 2015). In a study related to children’s perceptions of voice, Sargeant and Gillett-Swan (2015) explored over 1000 children’s (mean age 11) perspectives from Australia, England, New Zealand, Italy, and Sweden by broadly asking the children what they would like adults to know. The results revealed the overall theme that children expressed a desire “to be involved in a more authentic and collaborative educational experience” (p. 187). This theme was also evident in Flückiger et al.’s (Flückiger, Dunn, & Stinson, 2018) study with 200 Australian children aged from 3 to 8 years. These researchers found that as children progressed through schooling their positive dispositions towards learning decreased as they expressed a desire for more opportunities to actively participate in their learning, and in some cases mourned for the agency they experienced in kindergarten.

There is also a substantial body of Nordic research which points to children’s limited participatory experiences at school. In Iceland, Einarsdóttir’s (2010) study of 6–7-year-old children's experiences of their first year of primary school showed that children's interests and prior experiences appeared to have no influence on the curriculum they experienced. In an earlier study Einarsdóttir (2003) found that young children often expressed the view that school is a place where children sit quietly and work instead of play. These structural/behavioural expectations have been examined further in Thornberg’s (2010) study of elementary children’s judgements and reasoning about school rule transgressions. Children judged structuring rule transgressions (e.g., not raising one’s hand) as more wrong than etiquette transgression (e.g., wearing a hat inside), and reasoned that breaking structural rules led to negative consequences such as disrupting others’ ability to participate. Johansson et al. (2016) explored Nordic preschool children’s rights and showed that although teachers listened to children, the children’s ideas and interests were rarely taken into consideration particularly when their suggestions challenged the institutional rules and the teachers’ positions.

Australian research also shows that young children in their first year of school believed it was essential to follow school rules, in order to function well and avoid consequences (Dockett & Perry, 1999). In a more recent Australian study with 100 children between the ages of 4 and 8 years, children’s ideas about school rules were framed by a view that rules are the teachers’ and other authorities’ responsibilities and that the children’s decisions on rules are limited (Johansson et al., 2014). Taken together these international studies suggest the ways in which educational contexts, practices and behavioural expectations or rules can shape children’s perspectives about their opportunities to participate and be listened to by teachers. In this section, the research has illuminated children’s experiences of participation, including their experiences with school rules, and how their voices are often ignored in early years primary school classrooms. Sargeant and Gillett-Swan (2015) argued that there is an impetus for teachers to move beyond the traditional pedagogical approaches which silence children’s voices and work towards voice-inclusive participatory pedagogies that seek and act on children’s needs and perspectives.

Participatory pedagogies are teaching approaches which promote children’s participatory rights and agency in the classroom, by supporting children to express and enact their own ideas, perspectives, and knowledge. Formosinho and Formosinho (2017, pp. 15–17) argued that such pedagogies require teachers to “deconstruct the traditional transmissive mode of doing pedagogy” to consider the “complexity of knowledge” and the “social and academic diversity of students”. Participatory pedagogies demand that teachers have the ability and courage to distribute power to children and a willingness to engage with the uncertainty of sharing power in the classroom. As such, these pedagogies are built on reciprocity and an ethic of trust between children and teachers.

Participatory pedagogies offer an opportunity to support children’s participatory rights in school and classroom contexts, however, research continues to document the challenge of enacting participatory rights in educational contexts (Gillett-Swan & Sargeant, 2019; Quinn & Owen, 2016). According to Lundy (2007), barriers to enacting participatory pedagogies usually fall into three categories. First, teachers may not view children as capable of making meaningful decisions. Thomas (2011) further argues that it is often easier for adults to conceptualise children as vulnerable and in need of protection, rather than as capable decision-making citizens. Second, teachers may worry that sharing power with children will “destabilise the school environment” (Lundy, 2007, p. 929). However, this destabilisation may be a key component of successful approaches towards enacting Article 12 (United Nations, 1989) and participatory pedagogies, as traditional power relations need to be broken down in order for teachers to see children as capable active citizens (Cook-Sather, 2006; Shier, 2006). Concerns about sharing power may also be the reason why recitation remains common practice in contemporary classrooms, as it allows teachers to maintain control over classroom talk and behaviour (Alexander, 2018). In contrast, participatory approaches expose teachers to a certain amount of risk, as students are given “a degree of control of both content and behaviour” (Alexander, 2018, p. 591). The third barrier is the perceived time investment required to enact participatory approaches in the classroom that may restrict the use of participatory pedagogies (Lundy, 2007). Taken together, barriers to enacting participatory pedagogies identified by Lundy highlight constraints associated with teachers sharing power and increasing children’s participatory rights in the classroom.

Identifying opportunities for participatory pedagogies, rather than constraints, can scaffold teachers to support and promote children’s full participation. “Pathways to Participation” proposed by Shier (2001) sets out a hierarchy with five steps about how teachers, over time, can provide children with greater support to share their views and perspectives. These steps include:

  • (1)

    Teachers listen to children’s voices, only if children take it upon themselves to express their view. There is little concern for children who do not openly express their views.

  • (2)

    Teachers actively inquire about children’s opinions and views and provide support for children to express their views.

  • (3)

    Children’s views are considered by teachers to influence decision-making processes. Although children’s views are “given due weight, other factors may outweigh this” (Shier, 2001, p. 113).

  • (4)

    Children move from consultants to active participants in daily decision-making, where the teacher starts to share power. However, the teacher has the final say in decision-making.

  • (5)

    Teachers make an explicit commitment to share power and responsibility with children.

As these levels increase, teachers deepen their commitment to, and enactment of, empowering children to be full participants.

Shier’s (2001) five levels of pedagogy have been used to explore young children’s self-regulation through participation. Kangas et al. (2015) applied the framework to analyse survey data from Finnish early childhood education teaching teams. The framework allowed the researchers to analyse teachers’ pedagogical practices for children’s self-regulation through participation based on the five levels. In the study, Level 1 practices involved listening to children and providing equipment, whereas pedagogical practices reflective of the highest levels of participation (Levels 4 and 5) involved sharing power and decision making with children. The results demonstrated that children’s self-regulation could be socially and cognitively supported through participatory pedagogies that involved listening to children and creating meaningful opportunities for children to participate in decision making.

Participatory pedagogies which involve listening to children and encouraging active participation are also known as dialogic teaching approaches (Alexander, 2008). Bae (2009) argues that the aim of dialogical teaching approaches is to embed participation within children’s daily classroom experiences. Such approaches can be contrasted with what Aukerman and Chambers Schuldt (2015) described as more traditional monologic-organised classrooms. In monologic classrooms the teacher usually initiates (I) the interaction with a question, the students respond (R), the teacher then evaluates (E) and may provide feedback to steer students towards the correct answer. This IRE pattern of monologic discourse remains commonplace in classrooms and positions the teacher as the authority with the power to determine who can talk, whose perspectives are privileged or ignored, and what counts as relevant or meaningful knowledge (Alexander, 2020; Cazden, 2001). Such monologic approaches would be reflective of Level 1 or 2 of Shier’s framework, as children’s views are listened to, however, children’s ideas are not given weight to influence decision making. In this study we draw on Shier’s framework to explore the participatory elements of children’s recollections of being listened to by their teachers.

The international research literature shows that pedagogical practices, namely educational contexts, practices and expectations can shape children’s perspectives about their opportunities to participate and be listened to by teachers. Grace and colleagues’ (2019) review of Australian child participatory literature identified several topics that have not yet attracted significant research focus. Under researched topics that are of relevance to this study include children’s perspectives on – effective teaching strategies, school curriculum, quality of teaching, and reward and punishment strategies. Our study addresses this gap in our understanding of children’s perspectives of participation by exploring change in children’s perspectives and experiences on how and if teachers listen to their ideas by following children from Year 1 to Year 3 of primary school.

Section snippets

Methods

This paper reports on data from a 3-year longitudinal study that tracked 168 Australian children from Year 1 (aged 6–7 years) to Year 3 (aged 8–9 years) in primary school. This study addressed the following research questions:

  • (1)

    Do young school children believe that teachers listen to their ideas and how does this change over time?

  • (2)

    How do young children justify why teachers should listen to children’s ideas and do these justifications change over time?

  • (3)

    What are children’s specific recollections of

Results

The children’s perspectives about when and why teachers listen to their ideas in class are presented and discussed in three sections. First, Section 3.1 addresses the first and second research questions by investigating the extent to which young children believe that teachers listened to their ideas at school (RQ 1) and their justifications for why teachers should listen to their ideas (RQ 2) from Year 1 to Year 3. Second, Section 3.2 explores the third research question by analysing children’s

Discussion

In this section, the findings in relation to the three research questions are discussed. The questions focused on whether children believed that teachers listened to their ideas; how children explained why teachers should listen to children’s ideas; and children’s recollections of being listened to by their teachers. The analyses also considered how these beliefs and recollections changed across the early years of school. Implications of the research findings for teachers’ practices are

Conclusion

The main goal of the current study was to understand children’s experiences of being listened to by their teachers in the early years of primary school. A significant finding to emerge from this study is that we now know more about children’s perspectives, and not just from observational studies, that teachers mainly listen to children in monologic exchanges, following the traditional IRE pattern, and how children have understood the conditions under which teachers listen to them (e.g., follow

Acknowledgement

This research was funded through the Australian Research Council (DP130102136).

References (59)

  • J. Brownlee et al.

    Teachers’ and children’s personal epistemologies for moral education: Case studies in early years elementary education

    Teaching and Teacher Education

    (2012)
  • K.J. Topping et al.

    The role of dialog in philosophy for children

    International Journal of Educational Research

    (2014)
  • G.S. Åkerlind

    Variation and commonality in phenomenographic research methods

    Higher Education Research & Development

    (2012)
  • R. Alexander

    Culture, dialogue and learning: Notes on an emerging pedagogy

  • R. Alexander

    Developing dialogic teaching: Genesis, process, trial

    Research Papers in Education

    (2018)
  • R. Alexander

    The dialogic teaching companion

    (2020)
  • M. Aukerman et al.

    Children’s perceptions of their reading ability and epistemic roles in monologically and dialogically organized bilingual classrooms

    Journal of Literacy Research

    (2015)
  • B. Bae

    Dialoger mellom førskolelærer og barn – en beskrivende og fortolkende studie [Dialogues between preschool teachers and children — a descriptive and interpretive study]

    (2004)
  • B. Bae

    Children’s right to participate - challenges in everyday interactions

    European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

    (2009)
  • V. Braun et al.

    Thematic analysis

  • D. Carey-Jenkins

    Chapter 6: Teachers learning to recognise the voice of a child

  • C.B. Cazden

    Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning

    (2001)
  • S. Collings et al.

    Negotiating with gatekeepers in research with disadvantaged children: A case study of children of mothers with intellectual disability

    Children & Society

    (2016)
  • A. Cook-Sather

    Sound, presence, and power: “Student voice” in educational research and reform

    Curriculum Inquiry

    (2006)
  • Council of Australian Governments

    National framework for protecting Australia’s children 2009–2020

    (2009)
  • Council of Australian Governments

    The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) education declaration

    (2019)
  • Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

    Belonging, being, & becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia

    (2009)
  • S. Dockett et al.

    Starting school: What do the children say?

    Early Child Development and Care

    (1999)
  • S. Dockett et al.

    Researching with young children: Seeking assent

    Child Indicators Research

    (2011)
  • E. Dunphy

    Children’s participation rights in early childhood education and care: The case of early literacy learning and pedagogy

    International Journal of Early Years Education

    (2012)
  • C. Edwards-Grove et al.

    Metatalk for a dialogic turn in the first years of schooling

  • J. Einarsdóttir

    When the bell rings we have to go inside. Preschool children’s views on the primary school

    European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, Transitions. Themed Monograph Series

    (2003)
  • J. Einarsdóttir

    Children’s experiences of the first year of primary school

    European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

    (2010)
  • A. Emilson et al.

    Participation and gender in circle-time situations in preschool

    International Journal of Early Years Education

    (2013)
  • B. Flückiger et al.

    What supports and limits learning in the early years? Listening to the voices of 200 children

    Australian Journal of Education

    (2018)
  • J. Flutter et al.

    Consulting pupils: What’s in it for schools?

    (2004)
  • J. Formosinho et al.

    Pedagogy-in-participation: The search for a holistic praxis

  • J. Gillett-Swan et al.

    Perils of perspective: Identifying adult confidence in the child’s capacity, autonomy, power and agency (CAPA) in readiness for voice-inclusive practice

    Journal of Educational Change

    (2019)
  • R. Grace et al.

    Using an ecocultural approach to explore young children’s experiences of prior-to-school care settings

    Early Child Development and Care

    (2011)
  • Cited by (4)

    View full text