Researching children’s participation and agency in Luxembourg

This paper presents the concepts of participation and child agency. According to the United Nations Human rights, children have the right to express their views, and their voices should be considered. This means for early childhood education (ECE), that children should be perceived as agents who actively participate in the daily life of the institution. Participation contributes to the development of children’s self-esteem, well-being, and self-efficacy (Correia et al., 2019). It is closely tied to agency which is the performative capacity to act with some autonomy and take position in relation to others (Almér, 2017). The theoretical frameworks draw on socio-cultural theories (Vygotsky, 1978) and theories of language socialization (Corsaro, 2018).

Several qualitative longitudinal studies have researched participation and children’s agentic behaviour in ECE institutions in Luxembourg. Data is collected after informed consent has been obtained from the participants, but the researchers maintained the children’s assent by ensuring that they felt comfortable during the observations. Our teams investigated children’s participation in language and literacy activities. Mortini (2021) conceptualized language-based agency on a continuum from “participatory” to “controlling”. Children at the participatory end used their entire semiotic repertoire to engage in activities while those at the “controlling end” changed their learning activities. Based on Corsaro (2005) we found that children enacted their agency by creatively reproducing strategies as well as languaging and literacy practices (Kirsch & Mortini, 2021). Given that children’s participation is closely related to their personal development, it is important that educators perceive children as actors in ECE institutions.