Session Information
25 SES 02, Beyond Rhetoric: Making Children's Participation 'Real' in the Theory and Practice of Educational Research
Research Workshop
Contribution
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989) is celebrating its 22nd year. Among the most significant of its Articles is the requirement of Article 12 that States Parties “assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child” (United Nations, 1989 Article 12.1). Indeed the CRC imposes an obligation on its signatories to ascertain the views of children and young people in a variety of contexts. In that vein there has been a proliferation of research studies with a focus on ‘listening to children’s voices’, most of which are premised on the fundamental principle of children’s ‘participation’. However, while the rhetorical commitment to children’s ‘participation’ may be strong, the scope for realising this ambition is all too often constrained in day to day research practice.
The aim of this research workshop is to engage delegates in a lively informed debate about the meaning, scope and challenge of the notion of children’s ‘participation’ in the design and execution of educational research. It will stimulate critical thinking about children’s ‘participation’ in educational research as a children’s rights issue and will focus on the way in which children’s rights provide a provocation to think and practice differently when undertaking educational research. The presenters bring a wide and varied interdisciplinary and international expertise to this subject; however, they share a commitment to children’s rights in their research practice.
The workshop will begin with a brief theoretical contextualisation and problematisation of 'participation' as a concept - situating it in contemporary international children's rights and human rights discourses. This will set the scene for the case material and the debate to follow and poses the central question of the challenge of the rhetoric of participation in educational research design and practice.
Issues relating to children's participation emerge and demand critical reflection and decision-making at every stage of the research process – from the conceptualisation of the research question(s) through to the dissemination of the research findings. The presenters will share their experiences of attempting to make participation 'real' in their research with children, highlighting some of the difficulties and challenges they have encountered and how they have sought to overcome them, including:
- 'A phased approach to engaging young children in research'. Unpacking the practicalities of actually doing the work with children from conceptualization, whole group, smaller group and then primary informants (those children who are highly engaged with the topic).
- Designing research questions that are consistent with a children’s rights approach
- Engaging children as peer researchers
- The challenge of participation at the data collection phase of research
- Research methodologies that aim to enhance children’s and young people’s powers of expression (such as photo-elicitation)
The workshop will conclude with a chaired open debate stimulated by some pre-prepared discussion starters.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Coppock, V. (2010) ‘Children as peer researchers: reflections on a journey of mutual discovery’, Children and Society, DOI:10.111/j.1099-0860.2010.00296.x, p1-12. Harcourt, D & Conroy, H. (2009) ‘Informed agreement to participate: Beginning the partnership with children in research’, Early Childhood Development and Care, 179(2): 157-165. I'Anson, J. & Allan, J. (2006) 'Children's rights in practice: a study of change within a primary school', International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 11(2): 265-279. Löfdahl, A. & Hägglund, S. (2007) ‘Spaces of participation in preschool. Arenas for establishing power orders’, Children and Society, 231: 328-338. Percy-Smith, B. & Thomas, N. eds. (2009) A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation: Perspectives from Theory and Practice, London: Routledge. Powell, MA. & Smith, AB. (2009) ‘Children’s participation rights in research’, Childhood, 16(1): 124-142. Quennerstedt, A. (2010) ‘Children, but not really humans? Critical reflections on the hampering effect of the "3 Ps"’, International Journal of Children's Rights 18: 619-635. Sargeant, J. (2010) ‘The altruism of pre-adolescent children’s perspectives on ‘worry’ and ‘happiness’ in Australia and England’, Childhood, 17(3): 411-425. United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child, Geneva, United Nations.
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