Children's perspectives on why and when teachers listen to their ideas: Exploring opportunities for participation in the early years of school

Abstract

Increasingly, young children are viewed as active citizens who can make meaningful decisions in their everyday worlds. However, limited research has explored children's views about their participatory rights in classroom contexts. This longitudinal interview study followed 168 children from Year 1 (aged 6–7 years) to Year 3 (aged 8–9 years) of primary school, in Queensland, Australia, to understand their perspectives of being listened to by their teachers. Findings showed that most children believed teachers listened to their ideas, with the proportion of children expressing such views increasing over the three-year period. However, the children's experiences of being listened to tended to occur during monologic rather than dialogic exchanges. Implications for future research, teaching, and learning are discussed.