Browsing by Author "Ahonen, Hanna"

The purpose of this study was to describe how kindergarten teachers support children´s participation in a kindergarten environment. There is a large amount of information on the participation of children. It is important to research how this knowledge is put into practice in an environment where children grow and develop a significant part of their childhood. The research questions were: in what ways kindergarten teachers support children´s participation in the everyday life of the kindergarten and what preconditions kindergarten teachers experience for the support of children´s participation in the kindergarten. The study was carried out as a qualitative study and its’ data was collected through theme interviews. The research data was gathered from three individual interviews of people who work in the kindergarten as a teacher. All interviews were carried out in one kindergarten. The data was analyzed by using theory-guided content analysis. The analysis formed two main categories that describe the support of kindergarten teachers to promote children´s participation and also to open up their views on the preconditions for supporting children´s participation. Both of the main categories were divided into smaller subcategories. According to the results kindergarten teachers’ views on the preconditions of supporting children´s participation in the kindergarten divided into four subcategories: personnel factors, noticing the group size, guaranteeing the basic safety of children and adjustable schedule. Support actions that kindergarten teachers described when promoting children´s participation divided into two subcategories: direct support and indirect support. These two subcategories divided both also into four more specific subcategories. Direct support divided into encounter, motivation, conversation and inquiry and enabling the possibility to make choices. Indirect support divided into observation, modifying the learning environment to promote children´s initiative, teamwork and cooperation with parents.