This article presents a study conducted at two different leisure time centers (LTCs) in Sweden. LTC is a voluntary after-school setting that according to the national curriculum should support for example development of values and children’s social skills. The analysis is a part of a larger action research project comprising various research issues relating to LTCs. The present article focuses on the democratic objective of LTCs. The Swedish educational system, of which LTCs form a part, is considered to be rights-based with reference to the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child. The national curriculum stresses citizenship education, and both schools and LTCs are considered venues where children should have the opportunity and ability to practice democracy in their everyday activities. The point of departure in the theoretical framework is children’s participation and agency. This article focuses on data gathered through ‘drawing and talking with children’ that reveals children’s perspectives as to their own participation at LTCs. A total of 19 children participated in the study and were asked to draw a map of their LTC and describe their experiences of participation at the LTC. The results show that children clearly favored activities that, at least to some extent, could be carried out with less adult supervision, such as free, unstructured play. Opportunities to participate were described in terms of formal proceedings such as voting or writing suggestions and depositing them in the suggestion box. The children also described their participation in terms of opportunities to make individual choices in accordance with their preferences. When asked to name obstacles to participation, the children mentioned rules that were decided on by adults, and fixed routines that structured the children’s afternoon hours in terms of both time and space.

Hur kan forskare och pedagoger tillsammans utveckla verksamheten på fritidshem? Aktionsforskning är ett sätt att gemensamt verka för verksamhetsutveckling och kvalitetsförbättring.

The aim with this paper is to present a research project which takes it´s standpoint from children’s perspective at after-school care. In thestudy we have worked together with children at three different after-school care units. We have worked with a so called mosaic approachwhich means that we have used different data gathering methods like interviews, map drawing and children’s photos of their unit. We havealso conducted ethnographic observations at the units. During the study we have invented the different data gathering methods bydiscussing them with children. In this paper we present results which focus upon children’s view of their own possibility for participation andwhat children themselves express they like to do in after-school care.

Abstract: The aim of the article is to explore how pedagogues in Swedish leisure-time centres interpret and make sense of what may be meant by children’s participation. We also focus on ambivalences and competing interpretations of participation and how pedagogues argue for or against divergent interpretations. The material consists of 18 digitally recorded reflection meetings in 6 leisure-time centres. The analyses reveal three interpretative patterns, or in other words, interpretative repertoires of participation, these being 1) formal democracy, 2) making individual choices and 3) responsibility. Ambivalences and competing interpretations concern, in the first place, the interpretation of participation as individual choice versus adult governance and compulsory activities. The arguments used refer to cultural values such as the value of countryside experiences, children’s developmental needs, professional commitment and children’s best interests. The severity of the clashing ideas is obvious as no working consensus is achieved.

The aim is to present a research project on after-school care that will be initiated during thespring 2013. As the project is initiated as an ethnographic action research, the main researchissues, as well as the action, are defined by the teachers during the first phase of the research, inco-production with the researchers, inventing visions, restraints, possibilities and a plan of action.We are also planning to conduct ethnographic observations at the units and qualitative interviewswith teachers, and even children. The design is though necessarily quite flexible at this point oftime as it depends on the action and the issues that then may be identified as important for closerstudy. Depending on the financial resources of the project, the research will be conducted duringabout 3 years on either 3 or 6 after-care units. The presentation will focus upon the initial phaseof the project and point out the research questions which are formulated in co-production withteachers who work in the after-school care. These questions can also be seen as importantquestions to investigate further in the area.