Belonging as a force of agency : an exploration of immigrant children’s everyday life in early childhood settings

The notion of agency is being used with increasing frequency in early childhood policies, replacing traditional assumptions about young children’s immaturity and their role as mere recipients of adults’ arrangements. Agency is thus both an educational aspiration as well as a signifier of a strong rights-based political commitment to countering views of children as immature and incompetent. This article develops the argument that agency is inherently a sociocultural product that is driven by children’s clear attempts to bond with others and to develop a sense of belonging. Using examples of the everyday experiences of two Chinese immigrant children in an early childhood centre, the article considers ways in which agency was exercised by the children in an unfamiliar sociocultural setting because they wanted to belong. Some crucial issues are highlighted for practice and policy development in the area of immigrant children’s education, arguing that the shaping of early childhood education requires an attention to children’s ‘invisible’ capabilities, needs to belong and ‘small’ everyday life realities.