Look who's talking: Factors for considering the facilitation of very young children's voices (original) (raw)

If we are to foster children and young people's democratic skills and understanding, we need to develop practices that support this from the earliest age. This paper considers the factors applicable to working democratically with very young children – those under seven – in facilitating their voices. Grounded in the work around children's rights, these factors are explored to propose a series of questions designed to support practitioners in advancing practice to facilitate children's voices. This paper draws on thinking and ideas that emerged during a seminar series that facilitated international academics working in the field in dialogue with a range of early years practitioners. One outcome of the seminars were eight factors that were seen as pivotal in facilitating very young children's voice: Definition, Power, Inclusivity, Listening, Time and Space, Approaches, Processes and Purposes. All of which demand attention and subsequent action if young children's voices are to be heard and taken seriously. To facilitate such an approach then we propose a series of questions associated with each of these eight factors to help guide dialogue.