title: Conceptualisations of childhoods and early learning and childcare (ELC): the experiences of children and practitioners based on practitioners’ perspectives in the Scottish context during the COVID-19 pandemic
Creators: name: Silistire, Gizem
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: childhoods
subject: early learning and childcare (ELC)
subject: children
subject: early learning practitioners
subject: COVID-19
subject: adult-centric assumptions around children’s competencies

description: As a large-scale health and education crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly changed the functioning of early learning and childcare (ELC) settings as a result of measures and restrictions implemented to reduce the spread and impact. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has spread to all aspects of children’s and practitioners’ daily lives and experiences in the ELC settings context. There have been recurring concerns about children and childhoods in the literature during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the position of children as “pandemic innocents” and “pandemic problems” in relation to adult-centric assumptions around children’s competencies. However, the roles, views and experiences of young children in the literature on the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis and disaster situations in the broader sense have been limited. Because researching with children was not possible due to COVID-19 pandemic regulations, this research listened to the views and experiences of practitioners working directly with children on children’s experiences as well as their own experiences. Therefore, this PhD research has explored how childhoods and early learning and childcare (ELC) have been conceptualised and experienced in ELC settings from the practitioners’ perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Scottish context. This study positions itself within a childhood studies approach and provides a variety of insights into the understandings of children and childhoods that emerge from the findings of the study. A qualitative methodological approach based on online interviews with adult participants and analysis of documents published by the Scottish Government was used for this thesis. I conducted online semi-structured interviews with practitioners who directly worked with children in diverse early learning and childcare settings across Scotland at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020-April 2021), and stakeholders such as managers of ELC settings, academics in the childhood studies field and staff working in a local council (November 2020-April 2021). In addition, a range of texts, i.e. guidance and advice published by the Scottish Government during the COVID-19 pandemic (May 2020-May 2022) that had an impact on the functioning of ELC settings, were reviewed for the policy context of this study. The findings chapters explore: (i) the daily life, practices and experiences of children and practitioners in ELC settings influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic measures and limitations, with a particular focus on space, materials and relationships; (ii) the shifted experiences of children and practitioners in the context of ELC settings with a particular focus on experiences and conceptualisations of play and participation during the COVID-19 pandemic; and (iii) the conceptualisations of childhoods and early learning and childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings drew attention to the multiple, sometimes contradictory constructions of childhoods that exist in interconnected networks of relationships. The thesis highlighted that the lives and experiences of children and practitioners in the context of ELC settings were situated within and framed by the particular COVID-19 policies and regulations, as well as safety and health measures. Drawing on insights from practitioners’ narratives, the thesis pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic had added another layer to some of the embedded challenges in the ELC field, i.e. realising children’s participation, recognising children’s competencies and maintaining care and education. This research emphasised the relational understanding on some concepts, such as children’s agency and competencies and the interdependency of children’s and practitioners’ lives in situating their experiences in a wider policy context. Finally, this thesis highlighted the need for more attention to advocating for changes in embedded views towards children and the ELC system, taking into account the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.