Participatory work with young children: the trouble and transformation of age-based hierarchies

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the ways that participatory work with young children was actually lived in practice, in one early childhood setting. Drawing on an ethnographic study, the paper argues that disruption of age-based hierarchy was key for making space and time for young children’s meaningful participation. Practitioners held a strong, nuanced view of young children’s ‘richness’, rather than defining young children in terms of what they lack. The finished state of adulthood was troubled, with adults seen as fellow ‘emergent becomings’, in the process of learning alongside children. However, despite conscious efforts to deconstruct age-based hierarchy, age and life experience remained troublesome concepts at the nursery. The paper examines tensions and limitations in how far adults were willing to cede control to young children, focusing on the example of care routines. The paper contends that participatory work with children must itself be maintained as a space for inquiry and reflection.

KEYWORDS:

• Children’s participation
• early childhood
• child–adult relations
• intergenerational relations
• hierarchy
• ethnography
• age

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the children and staff at Castle Nursery, who made this project possible, Professor Kay Tisdall and Professor John Davis, for their support during the research, as well as the editors and anonymous reviewers for their comments and feedback. This research was supported by scholarship awards from the University of Edinburgh.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Terminology around early childhood education is subject to ongoing debate (Moss 2017). This paper uses the term ‘early learning and childcare’, recently adopted in Scotland (The Scottish Government 2014).

2. All names are pseudonyms.