Professor Sue Dockett, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Recognising & responding to the perspectives of young children: Who is the audience & what response is expected?

There is a great deal of research and practice emphasising the value and importance of including the views of our youngest citizens in decisions that directly impact upon them. While a great deal of effort has been concentrated on developing strategies that facilitate children’s expression of their views, less attention has been directed towards considering the audience for these. This presentation will address two key questions: Who listens to the perspectives of young children, and what difference can hearing these perspectives make and for whom?

Professor Ingrid Pramling, Gothenburg University, Sweden

How can children’s perspectives be taken into account in teaching in Early Childhood Education?

Do we teach children in Early Childhood Education, and if so what does this mean? The notion of teaching has to be different to what we expect in primary school, in that we have to give room for children’s meaning-making and their perspectives. To be able to do this as a teacher, we need to view the child as a playing-learning child, from which the teacher can learn, but also be sensitive to and inspiring in raising the child’s awareness, eagerness and interest in being an active participant in their own learning process.

Chair

Professor Kate Wall, Strathclyde University

Expert Panel

Associate Professor Carol Robinson, Brighton University

Dr Mallika Kanyal, Anglia Ruskin University

Gerard McKernan, Glasgow Early Learning Centre

Professor Elaine Hall, Northumbria University

PUBLIC LECTURE poster