An exploration of practices for rights-based education through promoting voice in the early years : building a spider’s web

Robinson, Carol and Wall, Kate and Murray, Jane and Evans, Erica and Grogan, Deirdre and Bowes, Charlotte; Beaton, Mhairi C. and Burke, Anne and Keskitalo, Pigga and Turunen, Tuija, eds. (2024) An exploration of practices for rights-based education through promoting voice in the early years : building a spider’s web. In: Children’s Voice and Agency in Diverse Settings. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 24-47. ISBN 9781003360995 (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003360995-4)

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Abstract

This chapter aims to expand our notion of rights-based education through a focus on voice practices in the early years. It draws on the analogy of building a spider’s web to highlight the key components of voice practices with young children. As such, it illustrates the interconnections between the eight factors of voice and allows us to emphasise the evolving and transitional nature of voice practice. Using three case studies, we explore the diversity of practice across early years settings and pedagogies, noting the different strategies and emphases of the practitioners. The case studies enable us to exemplify the spider’s web analogy and expand on certain aspects such as disruptions, reinforcement and evidencing of voice practice. Acknowledging that no end point will ever be reached where voice could be considered ‘done’ is fundamental. Rather, we aim to demonstrate a multicoloured, complex and nuanced set of practices continually evolving and emerging, and never fully resolved.

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