Enacting an emergent curriculum in Malta: Early childhood educators’ perspectives of children in pedagogical decision-making

Children are capable, competent learners whose unique interests deserve recognition through pedagogical practices that foster their expression of ideas and interests. Adopting a sociocultural lens, this article examines educators’ perspectives of children and how these perspectives mediate pedagogical practices. Engaging nine kindergarten educators from diverse school sectors in Malta, this interpretivist study addresses how educators conceptualised their image of children and the influence of these views on their curriculum choices and pedagogical decision-making. Using a reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, four themes were identified: educators’ perspectives of children’s agency, voices, capabilities and interests. These themes are addressed within the complex ecology of curriculum-making in Malta’s diverse sociocultural landscape. This research offers new insights into the complexity of the educators’ perspectives that produce uncertainties and messiness in the enactment of an emergent curriculum. The study highlights the need for educators to have professional knowledge of and sensitivity to children’s agency, voices, capabilities and interests within unique cultural contexts. This carries significant implications for professional development in order that educators can build and sustain deep knowledge of children that can inform responsive approaches to curriculum-making.