Children are Citizens
The City of Port Phillip, an inner local government city in Melbourne Australia, has developed strategies that will challenge the traditional view of children as citizens of the state by theorising children as major actors in the society who have a valid and important understanding of the world in general and can be able to contribute to the development of the society (City of Port Phillip, 2005).
These strategies have been developed as a result of the little recognition children receive when it comes to voicing their opinions or getting their voices heard. Children also lack equal opportunities in the adult world in cases where they are faced with poverty, cultural diversity or disabilities (Smith et al, 2008).
The development of the strategies will ensure that the City of Port Phillip has a theoretical and practical framework that will be used to create awareness to the adult community in the city that children should be regarded as citizens who deserve equal opportunities and also to be listened to.
The strategies will be used to develop a children’s plan that will reflect on issues such as embedding the concept of children as citizens in the constitution, developing policies and frameworks that will be used to support children’s activities in civic duties within the city and structures of citizenship that will represent the needs of children in Port Phillip (City of Port Phillip, 2009).
The decision to include children as citizens of the state arose out of a gap in the Municipal Early Years Plan (MEYP) that did not involve children in its formulation stage.
The MEYP was an initiative by the State Government of Victoria which required all councils in Australia to develop a plan for children that would be used in developing strategies that would coordinate the educational, health care and early childhood development activities of children living in Australia.
The City of Port Phillip recognised this gap and decided that a broader approach was needed in dealing with aspects that affected children and promoted new ways of thinking about children’s opportunities in the adult world.
The new way of thinking challenged the State of Victoria’s policies on service delivery to children by proposing that their rights and interests should be considered before any strategic frameworks are developed (City of Port Phillip, 2009).
MEYP did not involve any consultation or input from children during the formulation stages of the plan which would create certain gaps when the plan would be used for early childhood development programs and healthcare delivery services for young children (Smith & Smale, 2007).
The various councils involved in the MEYP plan realised that they did not have the relevant skills and knowledge to develop strategies that are meant for children. The City of Port Phillip took the initiative to consult with children when developing the municipal plan especially during the implementation phase by analysing their ideas and opinions (City of Port Phillip, 2009).
To develop a plan that had the incorporation of children’s ideas, the council of Port Phillip analysed the ideas that council staff and community members had about children being viewed as citizens. Most of the staff interviewed were those who had a direct or indirect interaction with children in the community.
Their opinions about children were based on the images they had on children and how these images affected their day to day duties. The three images that the council staff and community members had of children were that adults viewed children as objects that could be developed and constructed by developing policies and procedures to be used in their developmental activities.
The other image was that children were seen to be apprentices who could be developed and educated to become future citizens instead of current day citizens. Policies and procedures were developed towards gearing children to become future citizens.
These policies were formulated by adults based on their observations on children. The third image about children was that they were viewed as social actors as well as citizens who had valid knowledge about their surrounding community and the world in general. This image represented the fact that children were present day active citizens who were allowed to participate in decision making activities (Smith et al, 2008).
The assessment carried out by the City of Port Phillip showed that children were able to express their views and opinions on matters that affected them when they were given an opportunity to do so; there were hierarchies for citizenship that included children in the society. There was a need for members of the community to view children as citizens who deserved equal opportunities and rights.
People who worked in organizations or communities that mostly dealt with children were required to view them as equal opportunity members while they carried out their work. There was also a need to develop a culture that would ensure the participation of children in community developmental activities (Smith et al, 2008).
The strategies that were developed by the City of Port Phillip that would be used in recognising children as citizens included championing the cause with influence by involving people in authoritative positions such as politicians, members of parliament and councillors.
The endorsement of children to be viewed as citizens by these people in authoritative positions would ensure that community members would also see the benefits of having children as equal opportunity members of the society. These authoritative figures also had access to state and government funds that could be channelled to awareness activities of viewing children as citizens.
The other strategy developed by the council of Port Phillip was to assess the educational opportunities on offer in the city and what the contents of the education system were.
This entailed conducting a critical reflection process on the council member’s image of children which required that they should identify and support responsibilities that were targeted towards ensuring children were involved in decision making activities (City of Port Phillips, 2009).
The other strategy involved developing protocols that would see children’s views and opinions being used in community development activities. Children’s views and consent would be used in developing programs and theoretical frameworks that would not only affect them but the adults in the society as well.
Developing these protocols would involve designing tools that would be used in consulting with children in policy and procedure formulation processes.
Some of the tools that have been used by the City of Port Phillip include individual interviews where children are interviewed by adults and also by other children, group discussions, and artistic work such as drawing, photographs, painting and videography (City of Port Phillip, 2009).
The City of Port Phillip is focused on developing a children’s plan that will incorporate the views of all the children in the city. According to statistics, the past four years have seen more than 400 children who are aged between 0 to 12 years contributing their ideas and opinions on ways of improving the living and learning conditions of Port Phillip.
As a result, the information will be used by the local council authorities to develop a MEYP plan that will incorporate the views and needs of children in relation to policy formulation and procedures (City of Port Phillip, 2009).
Children deserve a challenging and safe learning environment
The Government of Australia has developed an early learning framework for children in Australia that will be used by child educators to enrich their lives by providing education that prepares them for adult life.
The framework is also meant to provide a smooth transition for the children during the various stages of their educational life. The framework is based on the vision that all children have the right to access the best opportunities that will enable them to start their lives on a good note and create a good future for themselves.
The framework was developed after gathering input from various sectors such as the early childhood educators, children in early educational programs and the state, territorial governments of Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009).
The early childhood framework was developed to ensure that children received quality education and learning experiences that would develop them in the later stages of their lives. The framework outlines learning outcomes that will be used to gauge the skills, knowledge and abilities that children should have once they have complete the educational programs.
The learning outcomes that have been outlined include teaching children to have a strong sense of identity and wellbeing, educating children to be connected to the world by equipping them with skills they can use in contributing to the development activities in their communities, and teaching children to be confident and effective communicators (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009).
The type of learning that will take place in relation to the outcomes will be influenced by the children’s capabilities and learning preferences, the techniques that the educator uses to teach the children, the learning environment and the integration of the learning practices with learning outcomes.
The framework recognises the fact that learning is a continuous process that is not always predictable and certain.Each child progresses towards the learning outcomes in their own specific way and educators are expected to design their learning programs to meet each child’s specific needs (COA, 2009).
The learning outcome that requires children to have a strong sense of identity involves teaching them to be themselves and developing their confidence levels. While they learn about themselves, children build their own identities based on the social settings of the community and their families.
Their identities are also based on the types of relationships they have with family members and people that live in their surroundings. Developing a strong sense of identity will involve providing a learning environment that is safe and challenging. Children learn and grow more quickly when they are in a safe and secure environment (COA, 2009).
A safe learning environment will ensure that children are able to build secure relationships with their peers, family members, educators and their community members. Safe and secure learning environments will also ensure that they have a sense of belonging in the learning environment as well as enable them to communicate their needs and demands to the people concerned.
Safe learning environments allow children to express their feelings and ideas freely without any fear of being reprimanded. Children can also be able to initiate conversations with other people as well as respond to the suggestions offered by other people (HM Government, 2005).
The early years learning framework also outlines that children deserve to have a learning environment that is challenging and allows them to develop interdependency skills as well as a sense of resiliency in their lives. A learning environment that is challenging allows children to have an increasing awareness to the needs of their peers as well as allow them to be open to any challenges that might arise while they are learning.
Learning programs that are challenging allow children to develop persistency and critical thinking to their learning tasks as well as ensure they have confidence when approaching new and difficult situations (COA, 2009).
The educational program should be designed in a way that ensures children are inspired and challenged after completing the learning program. Children who are exposed to a culture of reading and studying only without experiencing any extra curriculum activities such as music, sports and social activities are more likely to develop a negative attitude towards learning.
Children should therefore be challenged academically to ensure they are inspired to perform learning tasks to the best of their abilities (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2010).
Children are capable learners whose perspectives should be listened to, respected and integrated into the learning environment
This statement is exemplified under the learning outcome of developing a strong sense of identity in the Early Years Learning Framework developed for the educational sector in Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). Children who are capable learners have a broad variety of ideas, opinions and perspectives on different learning activities.
They deserve to have an opportunity to have these perspectives listened to and respected for their value. For children to be viewed as capable learners they should feel recognised and respected for who they are by educators, their peers, their family members and the society. They are also able to share aspects of their upbringing, cultural backgrounds and religion with their friends during the learning process.
Integrating children’s perspectives into the learning environment will ensure that they are able to develop a strong foundation in the family setting and also the community setting as well as enable them to reach out for assistance and companionship (State of Victoria, 2009).
Enacting the Value Statements into Practice
It is important to view children as important contributors to the society by ensuring that their voices and opinions are heard when it comes to developing programs that will benefit them in the long term.
Children should therefore be accorded citizenship in their respectable communities or societies a fete that can be achieved by incorporating their ideas into educational programs and developing strategies that will ensure they are involved in the formulation of governmental policies and procedures (UNCRC, 2006).
Creating a safe and challenging environment for learning will allow children to develop confidence skills and capabilities that will mould them into leadership positions. Having their perspectives and opinions listened to will also ensure that they can become leaders at the later stages of their life.
This can be achieved by creating educational programs that have social learning activities which will allow children to demonstrate their leadership abilities and skills like the Master in School Leadership (MSL) program developed for all educational schools in Victoria. The program builds a child’s capacity for leadership opportunities within the school and also in the outside world (Matthews et al, 2007).
References
Association for Supervision and Curriculum, Development (ASCD) (2010). Educating the whole child: the new learning compact. Web.
City of Port Phillip (2005). Municipal Early Years Plan- creating a child friendly Port Phillip: a framework for action and three year implementation plan 2005-2009. Web.
City of Port Phillip (2009). Children’s participation in urban settings: respecting children as active citizens. Melbourne: City of Port Phillip.
Commonwealth of Australia (COA) (2009). The early years learning framework for Australia. Australian Government: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian Governments.
HM Government (2005).Working together to safeguard children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Web.
Matthews, P., Moorman, H., & Nusche, D., (2007). School leadership development strategies: building leadership capacity in Victoria, Australia. Victoria: OECD, Directorate for Education.
Smith, K., MacNaughton, G., & Alexander, K., (2008). Respecting children as active citizens: participation in policies and services. Melbourne: University of Melbourne. Web.
Smith, K., & Smale, J., (2007). Listening to children: local government respecting children’s rights to citizenship. Brussels: Diversity in Early Childhood Education and Training (DECET).
State of Victoria (2009). Victorian early years learning and development framework: for all children from birth to eight years. Victoria, Australia: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
United Nations Committee on the Rights of the child (UNCRC) (2006). A guide to general comment 7: implementing child rights in early childhood. The Hague: Bernard van Leer Foundation.