Belonging and participation at stake. Polish migrant children about (mis)recognition of their needs in Norwegian ECECs

ABSTRACT

In the European context, Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is seen as the foundation for later success in life in terms of educational performance, well-being, and social integration. The Nordic model is known for recognizing the inherent value of childhood and organizing ECEC services around children’s play, cooperation, and participation. However, non-Nordic children’s access to these services and their participation in them remain concerns. This paper reports on a study with ten Polish children, who share with the researcher their experiences in Norwegian ECECs and their transition to Norway. The results underscore belonging and participation in the main ECEC activities as aspects of great importance. Participation in a play-based ECEC, however, depends on children’s capital, which is devalued during migration. The findings presented in this paper address various pedagogical approaches for including newcomer children in ECECs.

KEYWORDS:

• Children and migration
• transition to Norwegian ECEC
• social justice
• redistirbution of capitals

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The research project POLFAMIGRA has received funding from the Polish-Norwegian Research Programme operated by the National Centre for Research and Development under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2009–2014 within the framework of Project Contract No. Pol-Nor/203550/35/2013.

2 Bolek i Lolek is a one of the most popular Polish children’s cartoons with many seasons of television series and full-length movies created between 1966–2014 [source: Wikipedia].

3 Kaptein Sabeltann – is a pirate-story created by Norwegian artist by Terje Formoe in 1989. It was published in the form of books, television series, and a full-length movie. It has been very popular among Norwegian children since the 1990s.