Methodological issues in representing children’s perspectives in transition research

ABSTRACT

This article evidences the existing inter-relations between the rights perspective, the listening approach and participatory research with children, emphasising its contributions to the ECEC research field. Specifically, the contributions of visual participatory research in the field of early years transitions are discussed to illustrate the possibilities of research procedures aiming to introduce children’s perspectives to the discussion. Principles established by the listening approach to research with children are reviewed and analysed from the rights’ perspective established by the UNCRC and adopted in participatory research with children. We present a critical reflection about the methodological outcomes of two visual participatory transition studies carried out in Chile that aimed to gain a better understanding of children’s perspectives about their transition experiences from Kindergarten to First Grade. Methodological contributions from both studies show that combining visual and narrative tools in research with children can help to further develop analysis strategies that are trustworthy and grounded in children’s meanings.

KEYWORDS:

• School transition
• visual participatory research
• children’s perspectives
• children’s narratives
• children’s agency
• listening approach
• rights approach

SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION CODES:

• Ch (Child)
• Ch1 (Child 1)
• Ch2 (Child 2)
• Ch3 (Child 3)
• Ch4 (Child 4)
• R (Researcher)

Acknowledgements

We extend our profound gratitude to Pablo Torres Núñez, PhD from the University of Cambridge, who actively participated in the inter-rater coder procedure of the first study giving valuable feedback to the analysis procedure and outcomes of it and to Matthew Somerville for proofreading this paper. We are also thankful of Dr. Elisabet Díaz Costa, from Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, who participated in the analysis procedure of the second study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Daniela Sofía Jadue Roa http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7725-0866

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Chilean National Corporation of Research Science and Technology (CONICYT), by fundings Beca de Doctorado en el extranjero por Gestión Propia, REDES N°140104 and PIA-CONICYT Basal Funds for Centres of Excellence Project FB0003; by University of Cambridge funding schemes Cambridge Overseas Trust and Chile Projects (through the Centre of Latin American Studies); Ministerio de Educación, Centro de Estudios, FONIDE N°911436.