Methodology

This chapter is dedicated to the empirical research undertaken in order to discover, first, children’s perceptions on aspects of provision and practices, preselected by me, which have characterized theories and policies about classes for five to six year old children. A second purpose of carrying out this study is to discover what aspects of a school for children of their age these children consider essential. All data is discussed in terms of respect or violation of children’s rights in order to highlight the connection of children’s views with children’s rights. It is a comparative research conducted in a qualitative manner using focus groups. The sample is five to six year old children who attended school in Scotland and Greece and participated in two focus group sessions. Approval for this research with children was granted by the appropriate authorities both in Scotland and Greece. Permission to conduct the research with children was requested by their teachers, their parents, and the children themselves. Finally, the measures taken to ensure that this research research is conducted in accordance with research ethics and issues on its trustworthiness are discussed. 

Keywords: Comparative education, Early childhood education, Focus groups, Primary school, Qualitative research, Research trustworthiness, Rights based school, Research ethics, School based on traditional developmental psychology, Teacher-directed school.