ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the analytical framework used in a doctoral study to explore the participation of children within a reception year class, with access to Forest School one day a week. The theoretical and analytical underpinnings of the study were derived from the layering of environmental affordance theory with cultural-historical activity theory. This approach emphasises the dialectical reciprocity of the socio-material environment and individual agency that shapes children’s experiences–and the experiencing of self–within an educational setting. Children’s engagement with each other, the teacher, the space and the resources available are considered in relation to their participation in institutional practices from the child’s perspective. In the study, episodes of conflict in the learning environment were chosen for analysis to interpret the child’s participation in dialectical reciprocity with the mediating messages being given about ‘how to be’ in the space, from both child and adult perspectives. Such analysis enables consideration of how children’s motive-oriented activity and participation, mediated through the socio-material affordances of the learning environment, shape their perceptions of self as a valued (or not) member of the learning community. Here, some of the findings are presented in order to consider how ‘challenging behaviour’ may be reframed as an opportunity for recognising all children as already ‘ambitious, capable learners’ (Welsh Government 2020), and as a way of better supporting their developing competencies in educational settings.
