Children’s participation in early childhood education settings during early outbreak of coronavirus in Finland and Sweden

Abstract

The corona pandemic is a new social crisis that is sparsely researched, and different perspectives on the coronavirus are needed. This article helps to deepen the knowledge of children’s expression of the coronavirus. It highlights the staff’s descriptions of children’s expressions regarding the coronavirus outbreak in Finland and Sweden in early childhood education contexts in March 2020. The empirical material consists of 79 questionnaires from early childhood education staff. The concepts participation and resilience have been used as theoretical background and these are discussed in the article. The analysis highlights four different forms of participation in relation to the outbreak of the virus. The article contributes to putting children’s participation in relation to a social crisis like the corona pandemic and shows a multifaceted participation. This can have implications both on attitudes and working methods in relation to crises.