Look who's talking: Factors for considering the facilitation of very young children's voices (original) (raw)
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The right to be heard is the masterpiece for child participation. The expression of one's own views is the central consideration of article 12 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It is concerned, inter alia, with how views are expressed (freely), the range of matters on which these views are expressed (all matters affecting the child) and the consideration that is given to these views (due weight given in accordance with the age and maturity of the child). There are two elements of this article which put restrictions on these capabilities. These restrictions are based upon the perceived capacity of the child. Currently, these implicit restrictions are left to the appreciation of the decision-makers. Much research has to be conducted to answer critical questions in order to base the appreciation on scientific knowledge rather than to leave it on the decision-maker's discretion. In this paper, we examine the extent to which children are "free" to build their own views at different ages and in different settings. We explore misconceptions about maturity by examining current child development research and provide philosophical challenges to some of the mainstream conceptions of maturity. The CRC does not imply that one can just wait until the child is capable of forming his/her own views. It is up to the ratifying countries to develop procedures and techniques to include children's voices as much as possible. This requires child-friendly tools to get closer to the actor's reflexivity. A new model, the "actor's system", which offers insights into participation as a reflexive and recursive process, is presented.
Encouraging and Supporting Children’s Voices
Youth Quotas and other Efficient Forms of Youth Participation in Ageing Societies, 2015
Children are considered not to be full members of society and that their participation should be limited. Further, that this limitation is imposed by adults. In order to counter these views it is key to afford space for children's voices and that these are facilitated in some way. Philosophy with Children, in all its variety of approaches and practices, lays claim to being a tool that allows children to develop the skills necessary for citizenship such as participation and airing their views. This chapter focuses on the role of Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CoPI), a specific method of practical Philosophy with Children, to empower children and give them a voice. CoPI has a series of distinctive features that makes it especially apt in meeting this goal. Children are able to articulate their views on a particular topic and this is supported by the structure of the dialogue itself. In addition, their statements must build on previous statements by demonstrating dis/agreement and the participants must provide reasons to justify that dis/agreement. The method thereby emphasises the primacy of the children's thinking and the facilitator works to juxtapose speakers in order to drive the dialogue further philosophically. In this chapter, these features of CoPI are illustrated by examples from dialogues on the Good Life, stimulated by the question "What kind of society would you like to live in?" CoPI is shown to give children voice with a view to promoting their participation in society while also eschewing the imbalance in the adult/child power relationship as questions regarding the good life ultimately invite us to reconsider our views of children.
Res Publica, 2020
This article provides a philosophical analysis of a putative right of the child to have their expressed views considered in matters that affect them. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 is an influential and interesting statement of that right. The article shows that the child’s ‘right to a voice’ is complex. Its complexity lies in the problem of contrasting an adult’s normative power of choice with a child’s weighted views, in the various senses in which we might consider the child’s views, and in the questions of how to weight those views and how their weighting makes a practical difference in coming to a decision. In so doing we criticise other accounts that simply regard a child’s views as having consultative value. We also make better sense of how we might weight a child’s views. The philosophical issues addressed in the article carry implications for how we might understand Article 12 that are not satisfactorily identified and addressed ...
Giving Children a Voice: Accessing the Views and
2004
The authors wish to thank the sponsors from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, in particular Michael McKibbin, for their interest and support (both in advisory and monetary terms). Our greatest debt of gratitude is owed to the playgroup leaders, assistants, parents and above all the children themselves who combined so agreeably to make the study a most interesting and enjoyable experience and, without whom,
The Right to be Heard: Understanding the Silent Voices of Children in the Early Years
Children's voices in the early years are complex and not easily understood. There has been a growing interest in listening to children's voices and understanding what children do, feel and think about school in their early years (Tangen, 2008). Although there may be some differences in defining voice, it is common for educators to refer to children's verbal expressions as voice. However, in the last decade children's voice has taken a different meaning to include non-verbal and other forms of expression. Children from the dominant culture with English as a first language have relatively little difficulty in getting their voices heard. Among children who struggle to get their voices understood are children from minority groups with English as a second language. Drury (2007) terms these minority voices 'invisible' or 'silent' voices that often are not heard/listened to. Based on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UN 1989), it is the fundamental right of every child to be heard. With increasing diversity of minority language groups, listening to every child's voice has become challenging. This paper emancipated from the growing interest in listening to children's experiences in various aspects of early childhood education (Tangen, 2008; James, Jenks and Prout 1998) and the shift in how children are viewed. The theoretical framework that guides this discussion draws from constructivists theories. Constructivist theorists share the belief that knowledge is constructed by the learner rather than being transmitted to the learner (New, 1998 cited in Edwards,). I set to explore children's various ways of expressions and how some of these silent voices go unrecognized. In examining children's various expressions, this paper will explore the teacher's perception of voice. The paper will examine Malaguzzi's concept of the hundred
Children's Voices: How Do We Address Their Right to Be Heard?
Scottish Educational Review, 2007
In applied education research, a primary goal is to impact upon policy and practice in educational settings. For this reason the Schools and Social Capital (SSC) Network of the Applied Educational Research Scheme (AERS) has adopted a collaborative approach in ...
Moving beyond voice in children and young people’s participation
Action Research
This paper introduces research that challenges decision-makers to listen to and act upon children and young people's evidence. Participatory Action Research (PAR) processes in Nepal and the UK in which children and young people participated were revisited in order to gain stakeholder perceptions on whether children and young people's evidence was valued. The paper focuses on the Nepalese participatory action research case revisited, but draws on critical analysis across the cases including whether they led to positive change at individual, organisational and societal levels. When decision-makers reflected on the processes revisited, it was when they interacted with children and young people that they started to value their knowledge. It is suggested that participatory action research could incorporate mechanisms that confront intergenerational relationships and power dynamics to alter perceptions of children and young people's roles and their evidence. These are embedded into a 'Change-scape' framework that emerged from these revisits, that links children and young people agency to the wider context of social change. This helps incorporate age as integral to inclusion and to see children and young people as critical to participatory democracy so their views are taken seriously in decision-making affecting their lives. The mechanisms suggested to include children and young people in processes that lead to transformational change include: creating participatory spaces and building dialogue and trust between children and young people and adults in participatory action research.
Working the Limits of “Giving Voice” to Children: A Critical Conceptual Review
International Journal of Qualitative Methods
Although claims to “give voice” to children through qualitative inquiry seem morally just and have been largely framed by good intentions, critical scholarship has called for reflexive reconsiderations of such claims. Re/presentations of voice permeate published accounts of qualitative research with children; similarly, voice is a term invoked frequently in qualitative research with informants of all ages. In this article, we follow Spyrou’s notion of “troubling” to review, critique, and synthesize key works by critical child-focused scholars who have reflexively queried and worked with the epistemological and methodological limits of “giving voice” to children through qualitative inquiry. Building on the reviewed literature, as well as poststructural approaches to framing voice in research more generally, we briefly discuss how we have built on these critiques in our own research. In so doing, we join ongoing dialogues aimed at generating alternative approaches to theorizing and re...