Children’s Initial Expectations and Experiences of Participation in Danish Early Childhood Education and Care Settings

Abstract While children’s rights are well-documented, the process of gaining confidence and identifying oneself as a person with participatory rights does not occur automatically. Based on two ethnographic studies, this chapter examines, from a child-centred perspective, children’s expectations and experiences of participation in Danish Early Childhood Education and Care settings (ECEC). The amalgamation of legislation, political provisions, organizational structures, and pedagogical practices, here collectively termed ‘institutional choreography’, significantly influences the extent to which children’s perspectives are supported. Recognizing that children’s participation requires cultivation and experience, this chapter empirically analyses how children express their perspectives in institutional everyday life through bodily and verbal actions. The chapter demonstrates the latent risk of overlooking children’s perspectives and suggests new pedagogical understandings of the institutional choreography supporting children’s experiences and competence in expressing their perspectives within communities, thereby gaining influence.