Browsing by Author "Rousu, Kaisa-Leena"

The purpose of this research is to to study the ways kindergarten teachers are able to support children’s participation in preschool and also to find out how supporting participation influences the group as a whole. My preconception is that increasing children’s participation has a positive influence on group dynamics, children’s sense of belonging and it provides a more calm working environment. I have limited my reserach to preschool children because of the benefit of the more defined age groups. Furthermore, the childrens’ possibilities to influence the results increase as they get older. The concept behind children’s participation is based on nursing a child using the individual child him/herslef as the starting point. The child is viewd as an active participant and builder of his/her own education. The child’s own views and his/her natural behaviour and play are considered the conrnerstones of child rearing. The corner stones of participating activities are playing, experimenting and taking into account the childs own views of the world. Listening to children’s opinions and increasing his/her ways of participating in a group environment can be seen as main elements of quality teaching. I acquired the material for my research by interviewing three kindergarten teachers working in the Helsinki area in September 2016. I designed the interviews around the theme, and I litterated and analysed the data following the steps/rules of contents analysis. Whilist analysing the interview materials I conseptualized the materials, and I also combined some of the concepts to create ’main categories’ that describe the material, which were compiled according to the interview questions. In all three preschool classes children’s participation was supported in many ways. Circles were held daily and project work and small group activities were part of the curriculum. Other ways of supporting participation was encouraging children’s own story telling and encouraging pro social behaviour. Supporting children’s participation had a positive influence on atmosphere. Children’s motivation grew and their skills on influencing increased. Teachers felt that the classes sense of community got stronger and there was less bullying among children.