Participation of 1- to 3-year-old children in the early childhood education and care community: a question of borderwork

Abstract

This study focuses on the youngest children’s community participation, and the research question is as follows: How do teachers facilitate opportunities for community participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) for the youngest (1- to 3-year-old) children? The study is based on a qualitative hermeneutic analysis of semi-structured interviews with six ECEC teachers from three different ECEC institutions. Theoretically, the study is primarily based on Habermas’s perceptions that educational processes occur at the intersection between individuals and society, the lifeworld and the system, as well as aspects from Yuval-Davis’s theory of politics of belonging and the ways in which teachers and children create borders. The results of the analyses indicate that facilitating community participation with the youngest children involves complex borderwork between possibilities and limitations. These can include institutional frames, awareness and knowledge of the children’s lifeworld and their subjective experiences and expressions and ways to support and create opportunities for establishing communities.