Although the number of immigrant families is increasing in

Pedagogical practices in early childhood education, which embrace children's initiatives and agency, have been found to have an effect on children's learning and competence skills. These initiatives can be seen crucial for children's wellbeing and self-motivation; however, children's initiatives are sometimes considered only wants, and children incapable to express meaningful initiatives in educational settings. In this paper we introduce children's initiatives in their educational society and examine the gap between children's experiences and teachers' observations. Children' initiatives exist in many different occasions with the daily practices and through the processes that nourish motivation and create meaning-making through actions, it is essential to focus on children's participation aiming to promote children's agency and motivation

This study reports on critical participatory research in an early childhood education and care centre in Finland. The objective was to study which elements are critical in the development and construction of a culture of participation. The data comprise conversations, team meetings and educators' diaries. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The results indicated that a culture of participation requires four elements: (a) a shared understanding of the image of the child, (b) a shared understanding of professional development, (c) leadership and (d) a shared we‐narrative that enables the comprehensive understanding, promotion and maintenance of a culture of participation.

The ongoing immigration flow poses challenges to the development of inclusive early childhood education (ECE) in Finland. This article focuses on immigrant children´s participation as a means to developing effective pedagogical practices in the Finnish ECE settings. The research method involves collecting large-scale observation data (N=316) based on a random sampling of immigrant children's everyday activities in the ECE context. The results show that the children's participatory action is correlated with their involvement, deepening their level of inclusion in the particular situation. Participatory action is also related to peer relations with a group of children or another child. Role play is positively correlated with participatory action. The results imply the need for more attention to jointly creating and supporting elaborated learning practices and contexts, as well as to understanding the crucial roles of peer relations and ECE teachers in promoting children's interaction, participation and role play. Teachers should develop daily actions and practices to be more accessible and understandable for all children to participate. The results demonstrate that the participation of immigrant children and families needs more effective interventions in the Finnish ECE setting.

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