Led by Dr Leena Robertson

This international project examines the current early childhood education policies and pedagogical practices in four different countries, Finland, Estonia, England and the United States and constructs a theoretical framework of Democratically Appropriate Practices (DeAP) for child-initiated practices. In spite of differences in history, culture and economic situation in each country, there is a shared and urgent need to develop child-initiated pedagogies in early years settings.

The project involves a network of early years practitioners – 64 practitioners in four countries – who are researching their own practice and exploring their everyday child-initiated pedagogies. The network of practitioners collaborate with researchers from four universities, University of Turku (Finland), University of Tallinn (Estonia), James Maddison University (USA) and Middlesex University (UK).

Please see the references below if you are interested in finding out more about this project:

• Kinos, J., Robertson, L., Barbour, N. and Pukk, M. (2016 in press) The Need For Child Initiated Pedagogy In The Context Of Participatory Democracy In Finland, Estonia, England and The USA. Childhood Education.
• Robertson, L., Kinos, J., Barbour, N., Pukk, M. and Rosqvist, L.  (2015) Child-initiated pedagogies in Finland, Estonia and England: exploring young children’s views on decisions. Early Child Development and Care. Special Issue: Early Childhood Pedagogy.Vol.185:11-12, pp1815-1827