Children’s perspectives on why and when teachers listen to their ideas: Exploring opportunities for participation in the early years of school

Abstract Increasingly, young children are viewed as active citizens who can make meaningful decisions in their everyday worlds. However, limited research has explored children’s views about participatory rights classroom contexts. This longitudinal interview study followed 168 from Year 1 (aged 6–7 years) to 3 8–9 of primary school, Queensland, Australia, understand perspectives being listened by teachers. Findings showed that most believed teachers ideas, with the proportion expressing such increasing over three-year period. experiences tended occur during monologic rather than dialogic exchanges. Implications for future research, teaching, and learning discussed.