Refereed journal article or data article (A1)
Culturally and linguistically diverse children's participation and social roles in the Finnish Early Childhood Education – is play the common key?
List of Authors: Outi Arvola, Kaisa Pankakoski, Jyrki Reunamo, Minna Kyttälä
Publisher: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publication year: 2020
Journal: Early Child Development and Care
Journal name in source: EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE
Journal acronym: EARLY CHILD DEV CARE
Number of pages: 13
ISSN: 0300-4430
eISSN: 1476-8275
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1716744
Abstract
Children with non-Finnish cultural or linguistic background face challenges to interact socially in the early childhood education (ECE) context in Finland. The present study aims to clarify (1) what kind of social roles children typically have in ECE, and (2) what sort of activities and play are typical to children with Finnish and non-Finnish cultural or linguistic background. The research data is systematically sampled large-scale observation data (1147 children, 22,149 observations) of 5-6-year-old children. According to our findings, non-social roles and less participative actions were found to be more common amongst diverse background children than with Finnish background children. Children with diverse background were found to be more involved especially in rule play but they were less participative in role play. The results suggest that ECE educators could pay specific attention to play-based interventions and to the shared cultural creation.
Children with non-Finnish cultural or linguistic background face challenges to interact socially in the early childhood education (ECE) context in Finland. The present study aims to clarify (1) what kind of social roles children typically have in ECE, and (2) what sort of activities and play are typical to children with Finnish and non-Finnish cultural or linguistic background. The research data is systematically sampled large-scale observation data (1147 children, 22,149 observations) of 5-6-year-old children. According to our findings, non-social roles and less participative actions were found to be more common amongst diverse background children than with Finnish background children. Children with diverse background were found to be more involved especially in rule play but they were less participative in role play. The results suggest that ECE educators could pay specific attention to play-based interventions and to the shared cultural creation.
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