Browsing by Author "Inkiläinen, Satu"

Goals: Participation is acting as a citizen in a democratic society. However, in children’s point of view participation and citizenship are contradictory. Previous research has shown that children’s participation is generally recognized, but there are still deficiencies in practical terms. According to previous research children’s opinions and involvement are appreciated, but at the same time underplayed. Children’s participation has a legal ground and it is part of the Finnish comprehensive school’s curriculum. In theory there aren’t any obstacles for participation. My goal is to consider, how children’s participation actualizes in comprehensive school and larger in the whole society. Methods: My thesis is a systematic review. I have used literature and research in addition to behavioral sciences from social sciences and jurisprudence. I will describe participation as a phenomenon in the context of school and society. I delimit my perspective with the following concepts: participation, citizenship, citizenship education and democracy. Results and conclusions: According to the research that I used children’s participation in Finland comes true in small communities, such as families, but especially in schools and municipalities it is not at the same level. The problem is, that adults are too diffident to share the power that they have and also children’s capabilities for making decisions are questioned. Nevertheless participation should be a part of school life because growing to participate is a long process. Participation is a ground for democratic action, so it is impossible to talk about participation without citizenship. Schools should include children’s participation in everyday life so that it would become a natural part of children’s action. However, school is not the only responsible educator in the society. The whole society has to support and strengthen children’s participation.