“Ethical considerations when including children‘s perspectives” 27 February, 16:00 CET- eTwinning Webinar

Abstract

Curiosity to children’s experiences of their learning environment is the foundation for understanding children’s opportunities and to grab and engage in their educational learning. Insights may lead to an alternative and more thoughtful way of organising the learning environment, creating a safe space in which they will feel free to express themselves, respected and equal. However, it is not always easy to foster environments that honour and amplify the voices of our young learners, since many important ethical dilemmas need to be taken into consideration. The purpose of this webinar is to inspire teachers and pedagogues to consider, handle and share ethical dilemmas and considerations, when wishing to include children’s voices and expressed experiences in their learning environments

Persille Schwartz

Persille holds a Master’s in Communication and Psychology, and has a lifelong experience engaging teachers and pedagogues in exploring, and improving their teaching practices by being curious to children’s experiences of their daily learning environment in educational settings, and including their perspectives as a basis for improvement. Her field of expertise is primarily on the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), where she has worked and engaged in a variety of positions at practice-, research- and policy level. She has worked directly with young children in educational settings (including children in their primary year of transition to school), as lecturer and researcher at College Universities, and at a political system level with local authorities as well as at a national level at National Knowledge Center for In- and Exclusion, at The Danish Evaluation Institute, and at the Danish Ministry of Children and Education. This work includes the creation of a Danish tool supporting ethical reflections when including children’s perspectives, the publication of several practice research magazines, and creation of the research database NB-ECEC (Quality reviewed Nordic Research in Early Childhood Education and Care). Internationally, Persille Schwartz has participated as expert in the group defining EU quality indicators for ECEC, and has for more than 15 years been convenor of the ECEC-network at ICSEI (International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement) and is the Danish country coordinator at EECERA (European Early Childhood Educational Research Association).