Perspectives about young children as active citizens, their agency, and their democratic participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) have received increasing recognition in international research and policy the last two decades (Emilson, Folkesson & Lindberg, 2016; Juutinen & Viljamaa, 2016; Moss, 2007; Smith, 2002; Theobald & Kultti, 2012; Woodhead & Moss, 2007). However, ideas about democratic participation in ECEC remain elusive for implementation in practice. Using document analysis, this paper explores ideas about democratic participation in a Norwegian/Nordic ECEC context in relation to the “best interests of the child” discussed in Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC; United Nations, 1989). The study investigates how key terms (rights, participation, unity/collective, equality, influence and responsibility) relate to democratic participation. The analysed document is General Comment No. 14 (2013) (GC14; Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2013). The Committee publishes General Comments (GCs) to provide explanatory notes for interpretation and implementation of the CRC.

The analysis is guided by the research question: What do the results of a document analysis of the Committee`s GC14 reveal about the meaning of democratic participation in ECEC, in relation to serving the best interests of the child?

By analysing GC14 and drawing attention to the GCs’ significance and relevance for ECEC, the study aims to shed light on the meaning of democratic participation in relation to the best interests of the child. The findings can provide possible directions for Norwegian and international ECEC institutions how participatory practices for our youngest children can serve the child’s best interests and contribute to a more inclusive practice in ECEC through a larger focus on children in different kinds of vulnerable situations. 

Theory: Biesta’s understanding of democracy (2014, 2015), Moss’s levels of democracy (2007, 2011), Pettersvold’s types of democracy (2013), and Einarsdottir, Purola, Johansson, Broström, & Emilson`s study on values on democracy (2015) serve as discussion partners for the analyses.

This research employed document analysis as a methodology. Document analysis is a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents that require data to be examined and interpreted in order to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge (Bowen, 2009, p. 27). Drawing inspiration from different document analysis techniques, this paper uses a combination of methods: word count, keywords in context, and classical content analysis (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2007). I developed a five step-by-step description of the process to make the procedure systematic and to comply with requirements for research transparency and validity. In document analysis, when texts are taken out of the original context, this decontextualises the material (Thagaard, 2009, p. 159). In this process, the researcher tries to find new meanings in the extracts from the text and introduces them into another context, thereby recontextualising the material, as in this study. This method can also be understood as reductionist because illuminating and including some parts of a text causes other parts (maybe most) to be excluded. In addition, this analysis has a deductive approach (the search for predetermined keywords), where the systematic procedure controls the reading in a certain direction and can thus omit other perspectives. However, this approach has an advantage: Extracting most of the text makes it possible to present the remainder in a more complete way and, to a certain extent, compare the results from the Nordic research.

By deconstructing the concept of democratic participation and tying it to the child’s best interests, the analyses show that democratic participation is a significant value in GC14 although the document does not specifically use that term. A child’s best interests in a specific situation will be impossible to pursue without the participation of the child. The close connection identified between the two principles should lead the government of Norway and other countries to include the principle of the best interests of the child into national laws concerning ECEC, since this can complement the concept and practice of democratic participation in ECEC. By describing the method systematically, the study sought to make the mode of approach visible and replicable for other projects using documents as data. The methodological approach allowed a significant finding in the identification of distinct groups of children: Children who can be in vulnerable situations. How we treat these groups of children at all levels is, in a sense, the hallmark of society’s or the majority’s understanding of democratic participation. The lack of attention to democracy as a value indicates that ECEC teachers have a gap in knowledge in this area. One suggestion could therefore be that ECEC teacher education should emphasise knowledge of democracy and children’s rights as well as teachers’ responsibility to create inclusive settings in ECEC. Democratic participation needs to be expressed as a value that continually is evident, explicitly and implicitly, and understood as an inclusive activity in ECEC that enables children to act, grow up, and live in a fellowship with differences and plurality because that is in the best interests of the child.

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