A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF NEGOTIATING
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS WITHIN AN EARLY
CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION
CENTRE IN IRELAND
Georga Dowling
October 2013
ABOUT THE RESEARCH

The key research questions are
What are the challenges and tensions within an
ECCE Centre regarding the implementation of
children’s rights?
 How are these challenges and tensions negotiated
within an ECCE Centre?

Limited research into children’s rights within the
ECCE sector in Ireland
 Dialogue of children’s rights is pertinent after the
Prime Time revelation in May 2013.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Benefits that
investment in
Early Education
brings (Hayes &
Bradley, 2008;
Darling-Hammond,
1997; Freeman &
Veerman, 1992).
Variance between the systems in
operation in Ireland when compared
with our European counterparts
(Hayes & Bradley, 2008; Deegan,
Devine & Nic Ghiolla, 2004).
Children’s rights in a sociocultural
context
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological
framework
• Hart’s Ladder of Participation.
LITERATURE REVIEW


Historical landscape of policies within the ECCE sector in Ireland
 Ready to Learn, White Paper (1999)
 ‘National Children’s Strategy: Our Children their Lives’ (2000)
 UNCRC and it’s implementation
 Workforce Development Plan (WDP)
 National Framework for Qualifications (NFQ)
 Free preschool year
 Siolta
 Aistear
 Preschool Regulations
Government policy
 Funding
 Implementation of support systems
 Value added belief of early education
METHODOLOGY “GETTING AT THE INVISIBLE
THROUGH THE VISIBLE”
Class
(GRAUE & WALSH, 1998).
No of children
Pedagogy
Class A – Morning 13
Sessional Montessori
class
children
10 full day children
Class B: Morning 5 full day children
Emergent
class
6 sessional children based
Class
C
Afternoon Class
– 15 full day children Emergent
(full time children based
from Class A and
B)
Play
Play
Qualitative, ethnographic participatory case
study approach
 Co-inquirers

DATA GATHERING

Child Participants

Data Gathering Techniques
Classroom video observations and field notes



Educators


Data Gathering Techniques

Semi structured interviews

Informal chats
Parents


Child conferencing
Pictures from the children
Data Gathering Techniques

Focus group
Organisation

Review of organisational documentation
RIGHTS ARE INTERRELATED, INTERWOVEN AND
INTERDEPENDENT AND ARE IMPACTED ON BY
CONTEXTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
Home
environment
Child
Community
environment
rights
Play
environment
RIGHTS ARE INTERRELATED, INTERWOVEN AND
INTERDEPENDENT AND ARE IMPACTED ON BY
CONTEXTUAL ENVIRONMENTS


All parents agreed - basic human rights would be the most
important initially - the need for more abstract conceptual
rights would become important.
Educator’s difficulty in prioritising rights and allocating a
hierarchy to the rights therefore indicates that the
educators view rights as interrelated and interdependent.
DEVELOPING A ROBUST COMMUNITY IS
INTEGRAL TO FULFILLING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
TO BELONG



Educators, children and parents value the
necessity for a cohesive community within the
setting to exist
Children need to be valued as active participants
Parents are seen as an essential link by both the
educators and parents
DEVELOPING A ROBUST COMMUNITY IS
INTEGRAL TO FULFILLING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
TO BELONG


“I've got too many friends, I can't even, I can't
even remember what to tell” (Child Conferencing
1, Paragraph 42).
ORGANISATIONAL DEFICIENCY IS
IMPACTING ON CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
The development of the vision and procedures for
enactment of rights has been training led in this
centre not strategically led through written
policy.
 Challenge of listening to children and completing
the paper work due to the lack of non-contact
time afforded to them.
 The organisation needs to carry out a systematic
review of its policies and procedure, which is
outside of the scope of this study.

THE PERCEPTION OF ‘DUTY OF CARE’ IMPACTS
ON THE ENACTMENT OF PARTICIPATION RIGHTS
You are not teaching them how to write or
read because they are going to do that but
we are preparing them to write and
read…. Then the other things that
children don't need for going to school are
their sounds and their numbers. What
they need is social skills, sense of
themselves…..".
“The kids do know what they
are doing for the day because
that's another thing we would
say "Today we are going to do
our snakes for the giant". So
they know what's coming”
THE INTERPRETATION OF PEDAGOGICAL
THEORIES INFLUENCES THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS.




Interpretation of pedagogical theories differs from educator to
educator
The interpretation of the pedagogy impacts the structure of the
routine
This study has qualitative evidence to show that each educator
operates their room through their interpretation of their chosen
pedagogy.
This research recommend that the interpretation of pedagogies
could be examined further in relation to rights.
RECOMMENDATIONS

Intrinsic:




Further develop parental involvement to bridge the gap between the
environments which circumnavigate the children.
Review the policies and procedures
Explore school readiness
Extrinsic:

The challenge of providing a quality service enabling children’s rights
without the necessary national support




Paid mandatory CPD days
Quality regulations
Interdisciplinary Inspection team
Paid non contact time
This study highlighted that children need to be in the centre of policy making on a National
level in the future with investment and support systems in place to implement change.
FINAL THOUGHT
“There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with
children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their
rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives
are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace."
-- Kofi Annan
Thank you for listening

Questions & Answers