Alicja McCloskeyPhD in Education candidate

‘Polish or Irish? Exploring the voice, subjectivity and participation of young second generation migrant children in research ’

Department of Reflective Pedagogy and Early Childhood StudiesMary Immaculate CollegeLimerick, Ireland

6 T H A N N U A L C H I L D R E N ’ S R E S E A R C H N E T W O R K C O N F E R E N C E

D U B L I N , 3 0 t h o f N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7

An OverviewMy study – the aim and an overview

Ethical and methodological challenges

◦ Who are the participants?

◦ Young children’s subjectivity

◦ Young children’s voice in research

◦ Young children’s participation in research

◦ Who is the researcher?

The aim of my study

Unveiling the unique perspectives of young children of Polish heritage growing up in Ireland today

Exploring the process of negotiating their identity and belonging in the context of multilayered social, cultural and linguistic dynamics constantly occurring between the family, preschool and the wider community environment (Bronfenbrenner 1979)

Polish or Irish?

Research methodology

Interpretivist(Cohen et al. 2007)

Research paradigm

Qualitative case study

(Creswell 2007)

Approach

Adults(parents and teachers)

Participants

In-depth semi-structured interviews

(Cohen et al. 2007)

Data collection method

Children

Participants

?Data collection method

What informed my methodological choices

The lens of adult knowledge and ‘adult theoretical categories that serve adult agendas’ (Grover 2004)

Limited interest in the children’s perspectives (Ni Laoire 2011)

Lack of authentic engagement with migrant children (Devine 2011)

Generalisations and misconceptions – migrant children seen as a unified category (Kitching 2011)

Inconsistent image of a young child (Baumgart and Farr 2011)

Children as ‘deemed to have minority status’ and ‘discriminated against on the grounds of their ‘immaturity’ and perceived ‘irrationality’’ (Devine 2011)

Children as extensions or ‘appendages’ of their parents (Pugh and Selleck 1996)

Value/ing rather than truly valueing children (Devine 2013)

Children as unfinished products that exist in constant suspension of ‘becoming’ future adults (James and Prout 1997)

1. Is a very young child a person in her or his own right? (subjectivity)

Active and able learner (NCCA 2009)

Child’s agency (Alderson 2001)

Child’s choices, needs and preferences (UN 1989)

Children as social actors (Christensen and Prout 2002)

Children as central players in linking migrant communities with the majority groups (Devine 2011)

Children construct perceptions of cultural groups at an early stage of their socialisation (Gash and Murphy-Lejeune 2004)

‘Children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today’Janusz Korczak (1878/9 – 1942)

2. Can a very young child become a research participant? (participation)

Depends on a vision of research

Power struggle and child’s participation (Devine 2011)

Shift towards recognising children as subjects rather than objects of research

From seeing research as about children, to approaching it as research with or alongside children (Harwood 2010) and for children or even by children (Alderson 2001)

Creating ‘a space for meaningful engagement where children are encouraged to express their views through a variety of mediums … and these views are listened to and taken seriously’ (Harwood 2010)

3. Does a 4 year old have a story to tell? (voice)

The ‘hundred languages of children’ (Malaguzzi, in Edwards et al. 1998)

Children use imagination and fantasy to express themselves and learn (Paley 1990)

Drawing as one of the natural languages of a child, way of constructing and conveying meaning (Einarsdottir et al. 2009) and telling their story (White et al. 2010)

Play as one of the most important ways in which children communicate, express themselves and learn (Moyles 2010)

Does a 4 year old have a story to tell?

Does a 4 year old have a story to tell?

Does a 4 year old have a story to tell?

3 x Yes!

Children

Participants

Participant observation(Cohen et al. 2007)

Data collection method

Draw and talk(Einarsdottir et al. 2009)

Play and talk

(Harwood 2010)

Subjectivity ✓

Participation ✓

Voice ✓

The researcher’s role and ethical considerationsShifting the power towards the participants (adult – child, researcher – participant, minority – majority)

Unique perspective as a representative of the Polish minority, an early years’ teacher and a researcher

Pre-assumptions made explicit

Use of Polish language

Participant-centred methods

Informed consent as an ongoing process (Harwood 2010)

Reflexivity (Harwood 2010)

‘What is needed is research that helps to raise the silenced voices of young children and families on what matters most to them in their everyday lives’

(Deegan 2002)

To summarise…

BibliographyAlderson, P. (2001) Research by children, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 4 (2), 139-153, available: doi:10.1080/136455701750158903.

Gash, H. and Murphy-Lejeune, E. (2004) ‘Children’s perceptions o other cultures’, in Deegan, J., Devine, D. and Lodge, A., eds., Primary voices: equality, diversity and childhood in Irish primary schools, Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 205-221.

Baumgart, J. and Farr, F. (2011) ‘Polish teenager integration into Irish secondary schools: language, culture and support system’ in Egger, S. and McDonagh, J. eds., Polish-Irish encounters in the old and new Europe. Reimagining Ireland, Vol 39, Oxford: Peter Lang, 179-196.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The Ecology of Human Development. Experiments by nature and design, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.

Christensen, P. and Prout, A. (2002) Working with ethical symmetry in social research with children, Childhood, 9 (4), 477-497, available: http://journals.sagepub.com.libraryproxy.mic.ul.ie/doi/pdf/10.1177/0907568202009004007 [accessed 10 Nov 2017].

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Creswell, J. W. (2007) Qualitative inquiry & research design: choosing among five approaches, 2nd ed., London: Sage.

Deegan, J. (2002) Early childhood discourse: Problematising some conceptual issues in statutory frameworks, Irish Educational Studies, 21 (2), 1-10, available https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/332 [accessed 1 Nov 2017].

Devine, D. (2011) Immigration and schooling in the Republic of Ireland: Making a difference?, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Devine, D. (2013) Value/ing children differently? Migrant children in education, Children and Society, 27 (4), 282-294, available DOI: 10.1111/chso.12034.

Einarsdottir, J., Dockett, S. and Perry, B. (2009) Making meaning: children’s perspectives expressed through drawings, Early Child Development and Care, 179 (2), 217-232, available: doi:10.1080/03004430802666999.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L. and Forman, G. (1998) The hundred languages of children: the Reggio Emilia approach - advanced reflections, London: Ablex.

Grover, S. (2004) Why won’t they listen to us? On giving power and voice to children participating in social research, Childhood, 11 (1), 81-93, available: doi:10.1177/0907568204040186.

Harwood, D. (2010) Finding a voice for child participants within doctoral research: Experiences from the field, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 35(4), 4-13, available: http://www.academia.edu/8779103/Finding_a_voice_for_child_participants_within_doctoral_research_Experiences_from_the_field[accessed 2 Nov 2017].

BibliographyJames, A. and Prout, A. (1997) Constructing and reconstructing childhood: contemporary issues in the sociological study of childhood, 2nd ed. London: Falmer.

Kitching, K. (2011) Interrogating the changing inequalities constituting ‘popular’ ‘deviant’ and ‘ordinary’ subjects of schoo l/subculture in Ireland: moments of new migrant student recognition, resistance and recuperation, Race Ethnicity and Education, 14(3), 293-311, available: doi:10.1080/13613324.2010.543395.

Moyles, J. (2010) ‘Play – the powerful means of learning in the early years’ in Smidt, S. (ed.), Key issues in early years education: a guide for students and practitioners, Abingdon: Routledge, 23-31.

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) (2009) Aistear – principles and themes. The early childhood curriculum framework, Dublin: NCCA.

Nı´ Laoire, C. (2011) ‘Girls just like to be friends with people’: gendered experiences of migration among children and youth in returning Irish migrant families, Children’s Geographies, 9 (3–4), 303–318, available: doi:10.1080/14733285.2011.590713.

Paley, V.G. (1990) The boy who would be a helicopter, London: Harvard University Press.

Penn, H. (2010) ‘Does it matter what country you are in?’ in Smidt, S. (ed.), Key issues in early years education: a guide for students and practitioners, Abingdon: Routledge, 18-22.

Pugh, G. and Selleck, D.R. (1996) ‘Listening to and communicating with young children’ in Varma, V. P., Davie, R. and Upton, G. (eds.), The voice of the child: a handbook for professionals, London: Falmer, 120-136.

Thomson, P. and Hall, C. (2008) ‘Dialogues with artists: analysing children’s self -portraits’, in Thomson, P., ed., Doing visual research with children and young people, London: Routledge.

United Nations (UN) (1989) United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, available: http://www.childrensrights.ie/sites/default/files/UNCRCEnglish.pdf, [accessed 8 Nov 2017].

White, A., Bushin, N., Carpena-Mendez, F. and Ni Laoire, C. (2010) Using visual methodologies to explore contemporary Irish chil dhoods, Qualitative research, 10(2), 143-158, available: doi: 10.1177/1468794109356735.

Thank you!