Chapter 6: “I Think – I Can”: Acknowledging and Promoting agency During Educator–Infant Play

In recent years, notions of child participation, agency, and citizenship have become increasingly apparent in early childhood research, policy, and pedagogical literature. Drawing inspiration from the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989), children’s participation includes the rights to be listened to and heard, to express opinions, to make decisions, and to share power (Shier, 2001). Consistent with a rights-based approach is a childhood studies commitment to understanding children’s perspectives in the context of the experiences that are salient to them at any given time and context (James, 2007). From this viewpoint, children are positioned as subjects: as actors and knowers who, regardless of age and capabilities, contribute towards their own learning and lived experiences in meaningful ways (Corsaro, 2005; Smith, 2011). Both perspectives draw attention to the socially constructed notion of childhood by locating young children and their experiences, learning, and development firmly within the context of the belief structures and practices of significant others in their communities (Berthelsen & Brownlee, 2005; Smith, 2007). The realization of children’s participation would thus be impacted by community members who, to varying extents, recognize and value children’s perspectives and competencies and afford them opportunities to operate according to their ideas and intentions (Berthelsen & Brownlee, 2005).