Implementing children's rights in early education

RECENT RESEARCH (TE ONE, 2009) investigated perceptions of children's rights in a New Zealand early childhood care and education service (the Creche) for under-two-year-olds. Focus group interviews, interviews with teachers, observational field notes, photographs and a researcher's journal were used to generate data. Findings revealed that perceptions of rights were influenced positively and negatively by physical conditions (place and space), rules, routines and regulations. This paper reports on how the quality of children's experiences in the Creche was affected by the organisational and physical environment. These two forces influenced the adults' perceptions of children's rights and created some observable tension between professional aspirations to provide for high-quality early childhood education.