Children’s agentic capacity, schoolification and risk: competing discourses and young children’s experiences in pre-school settings

In the Republic of Ireland there has been substantial investment in Early Years provision. The number of different types of settings for pre-school children and the associated research has grown significantly. This paper contributes to existing knowledge by reporting the findings of a qualitative participatory study carried out in the Republic of Ireland and involving a comparative analysis of the views of 90 pre-school children from three different types of setting. Within a conceptual framework that acknowledges the impact of neo-liberalism, the paper argues that despite the growing diversity of settings, provision is underpinned by three main dominant discourses, namely schoolification, risk avoidance and quality assurance. The influence of these on the lived experiences of young children is then explored focusing in particular on how, and in what ways, children exercise their agentic capacity. It is argued that young children’s opportunities to exercise their social agency is at times constrained because of the influence of the combined discourses, which creates a sense of fear in staff (fear of parental complaint, fear of losing job, status and setting registration). Implications for provision and practice are explored.