The little ones take the word: the pre-school that they would like

Abstract

The right to be listened and participate in all those matters which affect children is a fundamental right scarcely respected by adults, who tend to silence them, and underrate their views and their possible contribution. Dealing with this reality, Pre-school stands as a privileged setting for listening to the children and allowing them to participate in those issues that affect them, contributing to the formation of future democratic citizens. From a framework of listening, where children are conceived as active and competent subjects, as experts in their own lives, we have conducted an investigation which has adopted the format a case study. Through drawing techniques and discussions with children we have gathered their views about the Pre-school, analysing children´s well-being in the school context; the meaning and purpose they give to school; the level of satisfaction with it; their likes and preferences in the school context; the autonomy and freedom they say they have at school; their vision about organizational aspects that rule the school and their perspective about the real and their desired involvement of families. Finally, we gather their proposals for improvement in order to make their pre-school and ideal pre-school. The results of this study show that children are demanding a different kind of pre-school from the one they know, and the existence of a divergent thought from that of the adult, which needs to be listened to and taken into consideration, being their proposals valuable to start innovation processes and educational improvement.