Cultural participation for, with and by children – Enhancing children’s agency and learning through art education and visual knowledge-building

• This article focuses on how children's rights in society can be manifested with cultural tools and through cultural participation. The article discusses cultural participation for, with and by children based on the core ideas of a Swedish governmentally initiated strategy implemented in the 1970s. The right to partake in cultural activities, to be culturally active and to express themselves is based on the UN’s Declaration of the Rights of Children. Art education and visual activities for children in formal and informal cultural environments and the use of contemporary art will be discussed. An art-based project in collaboration between a cultural institution and preschool and younger children is described. The main purpose of the article is to analyse what impact the use of cultural participation and cultural tools has on children's collective experience and learning, as well as to discuss and contextualise the relationship between culture, preschool and school due to global and societal changes, in particular the increasing visual impact in society through the use of digital media and multimodality. The results show how an art gallery visit and use of cultural narratives, such as art educational activities at preschool based on work with a picture book, create visual knowledge and contribute to children’s agency and understanding of equity as one of the aims in the early childhood education curriculum.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Övrig annan humaniora (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Other Humanities not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Lärande (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Learning (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Aesthetic activities

art education

child culture

culture in preschool and school

early childhood education

multimodality

visual and media literacy

visual knowledge.

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)