PROMOTING CHILDREN’S AGENCY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Using conversation analysis (CA), this study identifies features of teacher-child interactions that enable opportunities for children’s active participation in early learning environments, specifically, how teachers promote children’s agency in the resolution of their peer disputes. The analysis focuses on two particular episodes of teacher intervention selected from a total of 28 hours of video-recorded observations in two early childhood education settings with three- to five-year-old children. The first demonstrates how a teacher can facilitate the collaborative resolution of a dispute; the second demonstrates how a teacher can respond to a child’s report of conflict by positioning herself as a non-participant. While different strategies were utilized in each of these episodes, redirecting responsibility to the children themselves was found to be the key practice in facilitating children’s agency in these interventions. Knowledge and insights gained through conversation analysis contribute to our understanding of how teachers and children collaboratively achieve opportunities for agency.