ABSTRACT

This qualitative research synthesis aims to describe and identify ethical opportunities and challengesin interviewing young children in early childhood education and to explore interviewing as a means tobring forward children’s experiences of participation and inclusion. These objectives have beenstudied through two different research cases in the Finnish early childhood education and care settingswith active learning approach. The identified opportunities were supporting to show emotions,respecting diversity and special needs, enhancing the competence and agency of children, stimulatinghumor, playfulness and imagination, and generating meaningful encounters and feelings ofempowerment. The challenges were building trust, identifying experiences from imaginary stories,listening attentively, responding to difficult life situations of children, and addressing powerdistribution. The paper highlights the possibilities for promoting children’s inclusion and participationthrough ethically considered interviewing and seeing research process as a chance to give themexperiences about competence, involvement and becoming listened to by adults.

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