In the introduction the author presents the manner in which the changed views
on a child, education and childhood surveys influenced the popularity of a
discourse regarding the children's participation, which, in the field of preschool
education continues to remain limited to a rhetoric rather than the real practice.
The concept of participation is explained from the viewpoint of active learning
and the education for the active citizenship. Further, it is compared to the
concept of listening, whereby the author puts forward the view of the Reggio
Emilia pedagogues, who perceive listening and participation as ethics and a
relationship. The author also expresses some doubts regarding the non-critical
popularisation of the participation concept and the need for its critical and
reflected justification. The introduction is concluded with a review of the foreign
and domestic surveys in this field. In the continuation the method and some
results of the research are described, that was conducted in the first phase of the
project titled “Professional training for practitioners for the purpose of
implementing elements of special pedagogical principles of the Reggio Emilia
concept in the field of preschool education for the period 2008-2013”,. The
results are consistent with the foreign findings, showing that children in
Slovenian kindergartens (co)decide, mainly about play, materials and means for
them, but not so much about other activities and different aspects of work in
individual class as well as in kindergarten as a whole. There is obvious
discrepancy between the standpoints of the preschool teachers and their actual
practical work.
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