The philosophy of listening in early childhood
A reflective inquiry into hearing the child's voice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21444993 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Safana Aseri (0009-0001-6467-6937, Early Childhood Education Department, College of Education King Saud University Riyadh Saudi Arabia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Educational Research Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0141-1926 • E-ISSN: 1469-3518 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/berj.70200 |
| OpenAlex | W7160288615 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
Employing Levinasian ethics and dialogic philosophy as interpretive frameworks, this phenomenological study explores early childhood educators' lived experience of listening to children. Veteran kindergarten teachers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, participated in in‐depth interviews and classroom observations. Phenomenological analysis revealed four essential themes: (1) listening as hermeneutic labour reading children's embodied expressions; (2) ethical restraint grounded in awareness of adult–child power asymmetry; (3) dialogic choreography balancing silence with active engagement and (4) relational trust as an ontological precondition enabling voice emergence. While the interview data revealed educators' sophisticated ethical understandings, observational data exposed significant implementation gaps, where institutional pressures and real‐time exigencies undermined stated commitments. The findings demonstrate that listening transcends procedural technique, constituting instead an ethical practice requiring ongoing navigation of power, temporality and relationship. The study contributes to scholarship by shifting focus from children's expressions to adults' ethical responsiveness and reveals the dialectic between espoused values and enacted practices. Implications include the need for institutional reforms to enable ethical listening and professional development, emphasising reflexive ethical inquiry
Active listening · Dialectic · Dialogic · Embodied cognition · Phenomenology (philosophy) · Reading (process) · Reflexivity · Scholarship · Silence · Children's Rights and Participation · Early Childhood Education and Development · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
Introduction to Phenomenology
Enhancing relationships between children and teachers.
Phenomenology of Perception
Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy
A Dance Between the Reduction and Reflexivity
What is Education For? On Good Education, Teacher Judgement, and Educational Professionalism
Totality and Infinity
‘Can we see our voices?’ Young children’s own contributions to authentic child participation as a pillar for sustainability under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
Hermeneutics and Social Science
Adult and Child Development in the Zone of Proximal Development
Roles in Sociological Field Observations
Tools of the Mind
One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis
Children’s voices
The Influence of Parenting Style on Adolescent Competence and Substance Use
An encounter with ‘sayings’ of curriculum
What is Wrong with Social Theory
Seen and not heard
Phronesis
Telling Secrets, Revealing Lives
| Highly cited | No |
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