Exploring the Strategies That Refugee Children Use to Express Their Views in Early Childhood Education and Care Settings: A Case Study from Greece

Abstract

Researching young refugee children’s views is an under-researched area. The present study explores the strategies used by six refugee children to express their views on various issues during their interactions with both adults and peers. The study was conducted in an early childhood education and care (ECEC) setting in Greece and the six children who participated aged three years and three months to five years and four months. None of the children spoke Greek; the language spoken by the adults of the setting. Data were collected over the course of two months using the event sample observational method and were analyzed thematically. The study highlights that children, as active agents, are not only shaped by, but also shape their social environment by interacting with it. The data analysis indicated that children employ a range of strategies to articulate their disagreement with both adults and peers. Among these, the strategies of “consent withdrawal” and “taking action” were identified as key methods used to express dissent. Conversely, to signal agreement with a situation, children were observed utilizing strategies such as “giving consent through physical presence” and “accepting an interaction”. These findings highlight the nuanced ways in which children communicate agreement and disagreement within social interactions. They also have significant implications for policy and practice, demonstrating that children, even when they do not speak the majority language, exercise agency and employ all available means to express their views.