Put the child first – not your own plans
With the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and UNESCO’s values as guiding principles, a Nordplus project is putting the spotlight on kindergarten children. The participants want to ensure that kindergartens in the Nordic and Baltic countries are aware of how to teach children to play an active role in democracy.
By Joan Rask, journalist
How do children become democratic citizens? And how do we train teachers so they can help younger children engage in democratic processes?
That’s the key question behind the Nordplus project Hear the Children. In the project eight Nordic and Baltic institutions have come together to explore how they can become better at participating in democratic processes that directly involve children. But what does it actually take?
Maria Lundin Lindgren is headteacher at two kindergartens in Österåkers municipality Roslags-Kulla and Ljusterö north of Stockholm, and she is also the main coordinator of the project.
– The best thing has been experiencing what happens when people from different cultures come together around a shared challenge. It’s been fascinating and really useful to see how people interpret and reflect on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, based on their own background and the context they work in, she says.
The eight partners are actively bringing the UN Convention and UNESCO’s values into play. These serve not just as a backdrop to all activities, but also as a concrete working framework – through workshops, mutual inspiration and shared reflection.
– For what’s the point if all those fine values just stay on paper? And if we’ve been listening to a child, what do we actually do with what they’ve told us? What do we give back to the child? And how do we teach children to make compromises? asks Maria Lundin Lindgren.
And she continues, turning her attention to what isn’t always so easy.
– I think we’re a little blinkered in Sweden, and probably in other Nordic countries too, because we’ve been working on this for so long. We know a lot about democratic processes and we like to think we’re hearing the child’s voice. We talk a lot and use all the right words, but I often miss seeing it all properly unfold in practice, says Maria Lundin Lindgren.
When values come to life
One thing that particularly struck Maria Lundin Lindgren was the difference between the old and young democracies. She sees a real dilemma between the values people grow up with and the beliefs they develop intellectually.
One of the participants from a so-called young democracy is Jolanta Varanavičienė, headteacher at Kaunas Kindergarten in Lithuania. Originally trained as a school teacher, she never imagined working with preschool children.
– I always dreamed of becoming a Lithuanian language teacher — to protect and preserve my own language. It has always mattered deeply to me that we have our own language and identity, and I’ve never taken that for granted, says Jolanta Varanavičienė.
When her own daughter was about to start kindergarten around 25 years ago, she made a life-changing decision.
- The kindergartens felt very autocratic — no one paid attention to a child who was crying. I decided that it was my job to be my daughter's teacher and I got a job in her kindergarten. I then started learning about the Scandinavian system and realised that it worked, even though I was the only one using it. Gradually, more teachers around me began adopting these approaches, where the child is at the centre and we follow the child’s needs, she says.
Since then, she has worked in kindergartens, and for the past six years, as a headteacher. The Scandinavian view of children still holds special significance for her, and developing pedagogical practice remains a high priority. She instinctively understood that the Nordplus project Hear the Children focused on exactly what she wanted to develop among her staff.
– In this crazy world, we really need both adults and kids to be good at making wise decisions in a democratic way. "As a post-communist country, we were used to running kindergartens in an autocratic way. Even though we’ve been an independent country for 35 years, there’s still a need to work on values and cultural norms — both among managers and teachers, says Jolanta Varanavičienė.
Jolanta Varanavičienė eagerly recounts how a middle manager didn’t understand at all why they should participate in the Nordplus project.
– One year later, the same teacher approached me and said, 'You were right — we didn't listen!'
And she continues:
– What surprised me the most was how quickly this change in thinking happened. I had expected it to be a much longer process, she says.
She emphasises that the international visits were crucial to the success of the project, as they opened the door for participants to exchange knowledge and experience. An online process could never have achieved the results the project has accomplished.
– Our participants saw with their own eyes what the educational process was like, and they could see that we are already doing a lot of good things, but sometimes we put too much emphasis on showing that we are skilled teachers. They understood that they need to slow down and really pay attention to what the child is saying, instead of thinking that they know best, she says.
Democracy at kindergarten level
Cultural differences have been crucial in reflecting on their own practice. Both Jolanta Varanavičienė and Maria Lundin Lindgren agree, and Paarma Søvndahl Holm also recognises it. She is a school consultant in Greenland’s largest municipality, Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq.
- For me, it was very inspiring to experience how they work with children in Sweden. At the same time, it is fascinating to witness the cultural differences between us as participants, says Paarma Søvndahl Holm.
As a school consultant, she does not have direct contact with children day to day. Therefore, the project work has taken place in close collaboration with a pedagogical consultant and a local kindergarten that has tested out the various ideas and new methods.
– At Shrovetide, they asked the children whether they would rather dress up or, for example, take part in the traditional barrel-whacking game. It turned out that some children preferred to avoid hitting the barrel but still enjoyed dressing up. Perhaps it’s more the parents’ and educators’ wish that the children take part in both activities. Perhaps it’s more the parents’ and teachers' wish that the children should participate in both, says Paarma Søvndahl Holm”
She explains that this example opened many participants' eyes to the fact that some children didn't like the part where they must hit a barrel in a rope. This example demonstrates that a democratic process that shows respect for each child doesn’t necessarily take more time, cost more, or create more conflict – quite the opposite.
Paarma Søvndahl Holm is particularly focused on the next part of the project, which is about sharing the new tools and ways of thinking with the other kindergartens in the municipality.
– I was greatly inspired by the many ways in which people organise themselves. For example, in some places they work 10-12 hour shifts, but only three days a week. And in Sweden, they have removed a lot of the administrative tasks from the managers so they can focus on pedagogy and development, she says.
For Maria Lundin, this is precisely what the project has been about, namely implementing the elements that participants find most useful in their own institution.
– My hope is that we will be able to create a network that will continue after the project ends in autumn 2025, because the world situation calls for it, she says.
Photo: Maria Lunding Lindgren
Read the article in Nordic (Danish)
Coordination Institution
- Roslags- Kulla and Ljusterö preschools, Sweden
Partner Institutions
- Lillsjöområdets preschools, Sweden
- Kaunas Kindergarten "Zilvitis, Lithuania
- Meeqqanut Atuarfeqarnermut Ingerlatsivik - Børn og Skole, Greenland
- Laulasmaa School, Estonia
- Siauliai Nursery-Kindergarten "Salduve", Lithuania
- Klaipéda Nursery-Kindergarten "Giliukas", Lithuania
- Nóaborgs Förskola, Island
- Jönköping Universitet, Sweden