Abstract:

Postmodernist approach regards the child as an important and equal participant in creating the environment in which he/she lives. One of the key areas of rights of participation contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) is the right of a child to actively participate in his / her regional / national / world environment that prepares him/her for an active citizen in the future. In other words, according to the Convention, the child has the right to freely express his/her views on all matters pertaining to him.

A child's active participation in the process of upbringing and education goes in the direction towards developing a child's social and civic competences, empowering a child's mind where they form an image of themselves, and the sole importance of contribution and participation. A shift from traditional towards a contemporary paradigm in early childhood education and care (ECEC) brings a start of deliberation over a child's role in an institution.

All of the above represent a strong subject of interest in both Croatian and worldwide politics, praxis and curriculums in the field of early and preschool upbringing and education. Theoretical starting points about a child's participation in their respective institutions are in agreement with the current and contemporary paradigm, but at the same time represent a challenge for not only children, educators and experts in the field, but also for the society as a whole. Deliberation about children as objects of research and their passive role is still well present in institutional praxis in the field, and the thesis contains the outcome for future deliberation about the need for a continuous lifelong education of educators, who have yet to fully become reflexive practitioners, with everyday research and upgrades of their own ways of praxis.

How much children experience their rights in educational institutions, or are they mostly on a declarative level, is a question that increasingly concerns the politics and practice of early and pre-school education and education in the contemporary world. Thus, the very concept of child participation has become a topic of much talk and is often highlighted in educational practice, while on the other hand many books emphasize the lack of child participation in research with children in educational institutions.

Ethnographic records and reflexive practices help educators in discovering a child's perspective, which is crucial to understanding the child as a co-creator in the creation and design of a space-based material environment, thus ensuring the child's right to express and respect his/her attitudes. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of the importance and the right of the child to decide on all matters of importance to his / her life and to create the space in which he / she is living daily.

The paper presents an action research with elements of the ethnographic approach to increase the participation of children in creating a living space in an educational institution, that means increasing the right to making decisions about the issues related to them, in this case about creating a living space in an educational institution. Four educational groups of two to four- year olds and their four educators were involved in the research. Accordingly, the reflexive practice of the educator is followed in the course of the research itself with the aim of inspecting the educator's image of the child.

Keywords:

Action research, child participation, child perspective, child research, space creation, reflective practice, child image.