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CHILDREN'S RIGHTS RESEARCH STUDY
NEW RESEARCH STUDY
HOW EDUCATORS CAN SUPPORT CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
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Study introduction by Robbie Warren
Educators working in Early Childhood Education services are in a unique position to embed the principles of The United Nations Convention on the rights of the child into their practices, and to be key advocates for the full spectrum of rights afforded to children. Attention to, and research on, children’s rights has grown exponentially since 1989 with the unanimous adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly (Gillett-Swan & Coppock, 2016).
This treaty, the most significant global tool to advocate for the rights of children under the age of 18 years, recognises children as rightholders and citizens. Integral to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the recognition of the child as competent, with agency, and a voice in things that matter to their lives. In the thirty years since Australia’s ratification of The Convention, considerable advancement and recognition of children’s rights in Early Childhood Education (ECE) policies in Australia has occurred.
As a practicing educator in a rural preschool I became interested in the considerations and challenges that all educators face in respecting and upholding children’s rights throughout the day. I embarked on research to investigate what enacting preschool children’s rights in exemplary ECE services looks like – what are educators doing and saying in their practice? A review of the literature in relation to children’s rights in ECE services in Australia found that there was little empirical evidence researching what shapes educator practices in relation to the rights of children who are aged 3 – 5 years.
Four ECE services, in NSW and South Australia, who have achieved an Exceeding rating under the ACECQA rating system and expressed a philosophical position grounded in rights, consented to participation in my study. The purposeful selection of these sites offers the potential to learn from educators who are exhibiting practices that are exemplary in relation to children’s rights. Educators at these services participated in interviews, focus discussions and observations with educator practices with children being the specific focus of my data collection.
I am currently analysing the data collected from these services using the Theory of Practice Architectures to generate an understanding of the arrangements in the services that enable educators to respect and uphold preschool children’s rights and what may constrain or diminish children’s rights. An initial analysis of the data has revealed positive results and consistency with service philosophies and educator practices in relation to children’s rights. A series of journal articles will disseminate the final results of this study including a report of findings and learnings for this publication later this year.
My expectation is that my findings provoke conversation and critically reflexive practice amongst educators in relation to respecting and upholding children’s rights in the context of their own ECE service.
Rattler will share Robbie’s findings in a future issue.
REFERENCES - Gillett-Swan, J., & Coppoc
Robbie Warren is an educator with over 20 years of teaching experience in Early Childhood Education services, and currently works in a preschool service in regional NSW. After completing a teaching degree at Charles Sturt University, she undertook a Master of Education at the University of Wollongong.
Robbie has an interest in understanding how educators can be full advocates for children’s rights in their roles. This has inspired her to research the topic of children’s rights through her doctoral studies at Charles Sturt University.
Robbie’s study is nested within the Exemplary Early Childhood Educators at Work project, a three-year study funded by the Australian Research Council. She is investigating the conceptualisations and enactment of educator practices in respecting and upholding preschool children’s rights in exemplary Early Childhood Education services.
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