| Popis: |
Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2012. Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-281) Young children are increasingly being recognized as experts about their own lives with stories to tell that offer a better understanding of their perspectives and views of their worlds. This recognition has seen an increase in the involvement of young children as active partners in the research process. It has also necessitated the development of innovative research methods that allow the voice of the child to be heard. This recognition of what has been called the "missing piece‟ of the research puzzle has opened up gaps in many areas of research where the child‟s voice, whilst valid, may not have been recognized and "heard‟. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain a better understanding of the wellbeing of 9 children during their transition from preschool to school. To access children's perspectives, an innovative arts based method, called the Jigsaw method, was developed in which the many languages of children were acknowledged and utilized. Children were invited, as partners in the research process, to co-construct their meanings of wellbeing during their transition from preschool to school. Data were „made‟ with the 9 children during this transition in five phases over an eighteen month period. A phenomenological approach was used to analyse the data. Given the appropriate opportunities, through the use of a suitable method, this study found that the children were able to be co-constructors of knowledge and offer the missing piece of the research puzzle, their perspectives. The children showed that they were indeed experts about their own lives and that they had a valuable role to play as partners in the research process. Whilst the Jigsaw method developed in this study proved to be a valuable tool in accessing the voice of the child, further exploration is needed to ascertain its potential value and capacity as a suitable method to use with young children. Due to the small number of children involved in this study further research using the Jigsaw method is recommended. It is suggested that this be conducted with other groups of children in transition, particularly in the area of wellbeing, where understanding the „essence‟ of wellbeing from a broader perspective could be sought. |
