Osallisuuden vahvistaminen yksinäisyyden ehkäisemisenä varhaiskasvatuksessa

Authors

• Elina Nivala Itä-Suomen yliopisto, Finland

Keywords:

political participation, poliittinen osallisuus, social participation, sosiaalinen osallisuus, belonging, kuuluminen, loneliness, yksinäisyys, early childhood education and care, varhaiskasvatus

Abstract

It has been a typical topic during the past ten years, in the literature of early childhood education and care (ECEC), to look at children’s political and social participation. This article makes a conceptual analysis of the two concepts. The starting point for the analysis is the focus of the discussion on children’s possibilities to be heard, to make choices and to participate in decision making and planning processes of ECEC. In this article the often overshadowed social participation is discussed in more detail. A new point of view to the discussion is sought after through a social pedagogical understanding of social and political participation. Participation is understood as something that starts from belonging in a community. Furthermore, the idea is linked with the questions concerning children’s loneliness and an initial framework is outlined for understanding loneliness as social exclusion. The aim of this article is to show that supporting political and social participation in ECEC can create possibilities to prevent loneliness and support children’s social growth and wellbeing more widely.