Children΄s voices on agency and influence in the Swedish preschool context. : A children's rights perspective.

Abstract: This thesis aims to examine children’s perspectives about their agency and influence in the Swedish preschool context and what can be seen as hindrances by them that can challenge their agency and influence at the preschool. According to the United Nations Rights of the Child and specifically paragraph 1 in Article 12, children should be heard in every matter that affects them. Therefore, this research has been motivated by children’s right to influence and perform their agency on matters that affect them, especially at preschool, as it is a significant part of their everyday lives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four 6-year-old children at a preschool located in Sweden. This qualitative work draws on a constructionist ontological position to examine how children construct social reality. Using thematic analysis, two main themes emerged: “children as agentic” and “children as non-agentic”. Moreover, from the first theme, two subthemes arose: “free play” and “agency in preschool everyday life” identified in which children perceive that they can perform agency and influence/participate at the preschool. The three subthemes that arose from the second theme were: "the teachers decide", “routines that hinder children’s agency” and "Learning activities" that present children's perceptions on what can hinder their agency and influence/participation at the preschool. The results showed that children perceive their agency as limited with mainly free play their area of performing agency. They perceive their pedagogues as the main decision-makers at the preschool and rigidly planned routines as hindrances of their agency.