Children's Perceptions of their Nursery Education

There is much in the literature reporting details of children's experience of their preschool educational setting as perceived by adults; however, few reports exist with regard to children's own perceptions of their experience. This article discusses some of the problems associated with interviewing young children and suggests an interviewing technique involving the use of role play. Children in three nursery classes were interviewed in order to ascertain their perceptions of their nursery experience. Phenomenography has provided a useful framework for the interpretation of findings. This approach is based upon the theory that there are a limited number of qualitatively different ways in which people perceive or understand various aspects of, or phenomena in, the world (Marton, 1988). The present study has attempted to identify the qualitatively different ways in which children perceive aspects of their experience in nursery education.