Possibilities and Quandaries for Young Children's Active Citizenship

Abstract

Research Findings: Concepts of children's citizenship are highly contested. Contemporary policy and rhetoric increasingly includes the concept of citizenship in relation to children, yet there is considerable ambiguity as to what children's citizenship actually means. Unlike other marginalized groups, it is not children claiming citizenship rights for themselves but adults claiming rights for children on their behalf. Practice or Policy: This paper draws from a doctoral study that inquired into possibilities for young children's active citizenship through analysis of the participation of a class of children aged 5 to 6 years in a social justice storytelling program. Possibilities and quandaries for young children's active citizenship are proposed from critical and poststructuralist readings of young children's comments and actions in response to unfair treatment of others experienced through live storytelling. Implications of these possibilities and quandaries are suggested for those who work with young children in early childhood education and citizenship contexts.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper has come to fruition through the encouragement, thorough feedback, and patience of Beth Blue Swadener, Valerie Polakow, and two anonymous reviewers.

Notes

¹Preparatory is a full-time early education program offered in primary schools in Queensland, Australia. It is noncompulsory.

³Denmark was the name this child chose as a pseudonym.

²All of the children's names (except Mali) in this paper are pseudonyms that each child selected for himself or herself.

⁴Mali consented to use his real name in this article.