Document Type : پژوهشی
Authors
1
M.A. in Educational Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman ,Kerman, Iran
2
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran .
3
Assistant Professor, Departement of Educational Science, Farhangian University ,Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Abstract
This study explores children’s lived experiences of childhood and examines their implications for education. In contrast to previous research that has often represented childhood from predominantly adult-centered perspectives, this qualitative study adopts a descriptive phenomenological approach to foreground children’s own voices and experiences. Data were collected through semi-structured, narrative-oriented interviews with 60 elementary school children aged 7 to 10 years and analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven-step method. The analysis generated 143 subthemes, 21 organizing themes, and five overarching themes: constrained agency; tensions between children’s desires and adult authority; cultural teachings and constructions of childhood; emotional economies and material resources; and concealed anger and sadness, together with silences surrounding experiences of harm and the denial of children’s competence. The findings indicate that, from children’s perspectives, childhood constitutes a distinctive, meaningful, and intrinsically valuable world—an experience intertwined with play, joy, freedom, and significant relationships, while also providing a space for social agency and living in the present. Children perceive childhood as an autonomous period with its own needs, meanings, and forms of experience, rather than merely as a transitional stage toward adulthood. At the same time, their lived experiences reveal that agency is constrained by cultural, emotional, and power structures. Within these conditions, attempts to exercise agency and make their voices and experiences heard in the adult world may take the form of silence, withdrawal, or conformity. These findings underscore the need to rethink educational attitudes and practices by recognizing children as agents and legitimate bearers of voice and experience, and by attending more carefully to the exigencies of their lifeworld.
Synopsis
Unlike previous studies that have predominantly represented childhood from an adult-centred perspective, the present study aims to investigate children’s lived experience of the concept of childhood and its educational implications. To this end, a qualitative approach and descriptive phenomenology were adopted. The research population comprised schools in Districts One and Two of the city of Kerman, characterised by cultural and social diversity among children. From this population, a sample of 60 primary-school children aged 7 to 10 years was selected. In observance of research ethics, participants took part in the study with awareness of its objectives, of their own volition, and with parental consent. The data-collection instruments consisted of semi-structured and narrative-based interviews aligned with the research purpose. Following data collection, the data were analysed using Colaizzi’s seven-stage process of analysis and coding. The analytical process yielded 143 sub-themes, 21 organising themes, and five overarching implicit themes: the child’s constrained agency; the tension between childhood desires and adult authority; cultural teachings and conceptions of childhood; emotional economy and material resources; and concealed anger/grief, silence encompassing harm, and the denial of the child’s competence. The explication of these themes carries significant implications for the education of children, which are addressed in the conclusion of the study.
Conclusion
The findings indicate that, for the primary-school children in this sample, childhood constitutes a meaningful, singular, and valuable lifeworld. Children construed childhood, above all, in association with play, dwelling in the present, emotional relationships, freedom, joy, and the experience of “selfhood.” In their narratives, play and toys were not merely instruments of amusement but an inseparable dimension of the childhood experience and a medium for imagination, learning, discovery, and the meaning-making of the world. Through play, children acquired experiences of interaction, creativity, and understanding of their surrounding world, thereby experiencing a sense of authenticity and “being oneself.”
The findings further revealed that children, despite their awareness of the future and the passage of time, did not regard childhood as merely a transient stage preceding entry into adulthood; rather, they perceived it as an independent, valuable period worthy of being lived in the present. This finding is consonant with contemporary approaches in childhood studies, which regard the child as an active agent possessed of voice and as a bearer of meaning. In their narratives, children sought to be seen, to participate in everyday affairs, and to have their views and desires recognised to the extent appropriate to them. Nevertheless, the findings indicated that children’s agency is often constrained in practice by institutional structures, classroom rules, and adult-centred perspectives, and that a gap exists between children’s self-perception as agents and the actual extent of their participation. Given that children are exposed, within the family, school, society, and the media, to adults’ admiring discourses of childhood on the one hand and their nostalgic discourses on the other, the meaning of childhood as narrated by children may to some extent reflect adults’ conceptions of childhood rather than constituting the entirety of their own authentic experience and meaning. Nonetheless, the frequent recurrence of shared understandings and conceptions of childhood and its significance necessitates a re-examination of our—adults’—understanding and conception of childhood.
Based on the research findings, this conception of childhood entails significant implications for education. First, the educational system must distance itself from a purely transmission-oriented and adult-centred approach and recognise the child as an agent possessing capabilities commensurate with their age, experiences, and perspectives. Within this framework, play should assume a more prominent position in the teaching–learning process, and sufficient opportunities should be provided for free play, exploration, creativity, and children’s active participation. Furthermore, curricula and educational activities should rely to a greater extent on children’s interests, narratives, and genuine needs, and should afford them the opportunity to participate in decisions appropriate to their age. At the level of macro-policy, it is necessary that higher-level documents emphasise the preservation and strengthening of the child’s status and childhood experience, so that children are recognised as bearers of independent experiences and aspirations, and that programmes are not directed solely towards preparation for adulthood; rather, they should recognise children as active agents worthy of respect in their present existence. Education must deliberately recognise children’s cognitive, emotional, and creative capacities and provide genuine contexts for their expression and experience, since the child expects their capabilities to be seen and respected. This requires that education, instead of prejudging or diminishing children’s abilities, focus on creating meaningful learning opportunities and strengthening the child’s self-confidence and agency.
Overall, the findings of this study indicate that if education is to recognise childhood as children experience it, the theoretical and practical foundations of educational systems must be re-examined, an instrumental view of childhood must be abandoned, and childhood must be regarded as an authentic, valuable, and intrinsically meaningful period—a period in which the child is not merely a “future adult” but a human being possessed of experience, voice, capability, and the right to live in the present. Accordingly, policies and higher-level documents must formally affirm childhood as a valuable period independent of adulthood and provide frameworks in which educational decisions, rather than being adult-centred, are participatory and responsive to children’s narratives and interests.
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